---
aliases:
  - The Inequality of Human Races
  - Essai sur l'inégalité des races humaines
author: Arthur de Gobineau
category:
  - philosophy
date: '2026-10-31'
description: a nineteenth-century work of racial pseudoscience that attributes the rise and decline of civilizations to racial hierarchy and mixture.
external: https://classiques.uqam.ca/classiques/gobineau/essai_inegalite_races/essai_inegalite_races.html
id: An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races
modified: '2026-10-31'
posters: '[[library/posters/an-essay-on-the-inequality-of-the-human-races.jpg]]'
status: to read
subcategory: history of ideas
title: An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races
year: 1853
authors: Arthur de Gobineau
created: '2026-10-31'
published: '2026-10-31'
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Originally published in French as _Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines_ in 1853–1855. [Text and publication details](https://classiques.uqam.ca/classiques/gobineau/essai_inegalite_races/essai_inegalite_races.html).

The cover is Hachette BnF’s facsimile of volume 1 of the 1884 edition. This reading entry covers the whole work. [Cover edition](https://www.hachettebnf.fr/livre/essai-sur-linegalite-des-races-humaines-vol-1-ed1884-9782012543218/).