原始白色與變異黑色：近代學者毛波推伊的遺傳觀與西方古典傳統

Abstract

1740 年代的法國學界對於黑人膚色的由來有相當多的討論，主流意見傾向氣候解釋模式：白人移居熱帶地區之後，由於長期處身於高溫乾燥的環境之下，遂使得膚色逐漸變深。毛波推伊（Maupertuis, 1698-1759）支持這種看法，並且以黑人生出白子的現象論證人類最原始的膚色是白色。他甚至還建議實行白子婚配的人體試驗，嘗試培育新人種。雖然毛波推伊的看法相當新穎，但是我們不應該忽略古典作品可能是這位法國學者構思遺傳問題時，所運用的重要知識來源。

During the 1740s, there was a debate on the causes of the color of the Black people among French scholars. Many of them supported the climatic theory andadvocated that the color of the Black people evolved from those White people who migrated to the tropics, and their skin gradually darkened there, owing tothe hot and dry environment. Maupertuis (1689-1759) was one of the supporters of this theory and the case of albinos strongly convinced him that the primitivecolor of humankind was white. His interest in human’s hereditary phenomenon encouraged his further research on a new human race ‘white negro’. Although his opinions sound very modern, classical literature actually played an essential role in the foundation of his thought, apart from the influence of hiscontemporary scientific scholarship.