Black on the Outside, White on the Inside: Peter Abelard’s Use of Race |
Black on the Outside, White on the Inside: Peter Abelard’s Use of Race
Critical Philosophy of Race
Volume 6, Issue 2, 2018
pages 135-163
DOI: 10.5325/critphilrace.6.2.0135
Colleen Mccluskey, Professor of Philosophy
Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri
In his reply to Heloise’s complaints in the fourth of the so-called personal letters, Peter Abelard (a twelfth-century theologian) draws upon the figure of the Ethiopian queen from the biblical Song of Songs, who proclaims that she is black on the outside but beautiful on the inside. While some scholars have interpreted his discussion as a commentary on the persona of a nun, this article considers what Abelard’s remarks might mean for understanding the development of the concept of race in Western thought. In particular, it considers whether Abelard’s discussion, both in the letter and in his metaphysical writings, challenges the common (although not universal) position that Europeans did not develop a concept of race until at least the early modern period. It examines these texts to determine the extent to which his remarks reveal congruities or differences with later more explicit conceptions of race.
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Tags: Colleen Mccluskey, Critical Philosophy of Race, Héloïse, Héloïse d'Argenteuil, Peter Abelard