Three Studies on Climate and Human Variety in France

This study explores three variants of climate theory in France by Jean Bodin, Montesquieu, and Buffon, the origins of which are traceable back to Ancient Greece. It shows that arguments about the primacy of climatic influence in human affairs were of central importance to each of these theorists despite differences in the historical setting within which their views were set forth and their overriding scholarly and theoretical interests. As we will see, in each case the problems these theorists wanted to solve was that of human diversity. Climate theory was crucial in their attempts to understand both why there were so many manifestly different kinds of people and with them, differing laws, customs, institutions, physical shapes, colors, and size. In addition, climate theory served for Bodin to explain the changes that had befallen humans since the Fall, for Montesquieu to repudiate Catholic dogma, and for Buffon to document the unity of the human species. In brief, climate theory means the combination of physical factors -- air temperature, winds, geography, exposure to the sun, proximity to water, exact location to which people are exposed. By an examination of these elements these theorists believed that they could account for the distinguishing characteristics that differentiated whole groups. It was believed that a careful documentation of climate would explain why difference itself existed. The tenacity with which theories of climate have perpetuated themselves over two millennia of Western civilization attests to the powerful appeal such notions had for those seeking to explain phenomena that at first were startling and perplexing. From the first efforts to understand localized disease and explain human variation in Greek medicine to contemporary examinations of weather patterns and their effects on human development, the idea that climate profoundly influenced not just the physical circumstances but also the social, psychological, and biological makeup of diverse peoples has attracted numerous adherents. By examining the work of Bodin, Montesquieu, and Buffon this study seeks to explain the attraction, inner workings, and multiple applications of climate theory in France. Jean Bodin -- jurist, historian, and political theorist lived in the era of the French Wars of Religion, an epoch of profound social, political, and religious upheaval. Bodin focused on "universal history" in an effort to throw light on the events of his time. Deeply troubled by the conflict between Catholic and Protestant he sought to explain why diverse laws, customs, and institutions -especially religious institutions -- had come to exist. He pondered why so many different kinds of people existed when all existence owed its origin to God the creator, whose powers had first breathed life in human beings in the Garden. Since the time of that distant paradise much had changed. The Fall inaugurated a ceaseless chain of permutations and alterations in human history so that by his time the numerous peoples known, and their concomitant varieties of laws, customs, and institutions, appeared to contradict the Bible's central tenet of common human descent. Bodin used his concept of "universal history" -- within which his climate theory was embedded to explain what had initiated these events and to reconcile them with the Biblical account of Genesis. It was within this framework of dual necessity -- explaining the peculiarities of historical development and the deviations that had occurred since the Creation, that Bodin gathered and used ideas about climatic influences. Despite the essential sameness of all human beings as created by God, diversity in both physical form and social life had appeared, thanks to the formative role of climate. Bodin's ultimate argument was that because climatic influence could be only partially mitigated by human efforts, diversity had to be recognized and tolerated. This overall historical interpretation buttressed the political and social cause most important to him -- encouraging tolerance among the warring religious factions of sixteenth-century France. Montesquieu lived in an age substantially different from that of Bodin. On the surface it appeared that the burning issues of Bodin's time had been resolved in favor of the French crown and Catholicism. The appearance of calm was misleading, however, for forces -- economic, social, and political were slowly gathering that would cause deep conflicts in the second half of the eighteenth century and ultimately help bring revolution to France. Traditional precepts of a divinely-inspired social order created and perpetuated by the laws of God were submitted to the calculating stare of Reason and found wanting. New explanations appeared that challenged old canons of thought and ushered in an era of intellectual fermentation. "Natural Law" gradually supplanted the laws of the exclusive Christian God, but it in turn seemed -- as recognition of human diversity intensified -- increasingly inadequate to explain the maintenance of order in the world of human affairs. Diversity was a vexed problem to Montesquieu because it seemed to contradict the universal application of Natural Law. Thus when attempting to explain the laws of nature and those of human societies, Montesquieu appealed to climate as one way of making comprehensible the differences that existed between humans -- and their various "positive laws" -- and still remain faithful to universal Natural Law. By turning to climate Montesquieu was able to retain Natural Law, explain the diversity immanent in human societies, and never waver from the belief that Natural Law was best exemplified in Europe, where political rule, morality, and social development best conformed to Natural Law. Thus climate theory allowed Montesquieu at one and the same time to relative cultural values and norms (for which he has been applauded as "the founder of sociology") and to reassert over and beyond diversity the superiority of the European way of doing things. Although Buffon's subject matter -- natural history -differed from Montesquieu's, he nonetheless shared many of Montesquieu's characteristic concerns: the laws of development governing societies; the variety of human beings throughout the world; and in addition an interest in reconciling human diversity with the belief that all humans emanated from one source, the white European. Working within his system of natural history, Buffon was able to create a vast yet deceptively simple explanation that resolved the tension that existed between the variety of humans and his conviction that Europe epitomized the high point of development. His theory of climate fulfilled this need by preserving all of these tenets -- unity, variety, levels of development -- by postulating that all human beings had deviated from the European model because of migration, climatic exposure, and the consumption of poor foodstuffs. The theme which united all three theorists was the need to decipher why different kinds of human beings inhabited the earth; why they had developed peculiar social practices and customs; and why their institutions differed from those most familiar to them. The long tradition of ascribing such differences to climate admirably fulfilled their requirements.Histor