The mastery of nature was viewed by eighteenth-century historians as an important measure of the progress of civilization. This book discusses this topic in connection with the mainstream religious, political, and philosophical elements of Enlightenment culture. It considers works by figures that include Edward Gibbon, Voltaire, Herder, Vico, Raynal, Hume, Adam Smith and William Robertson. It also discusses many classical, medieval, and early modern sources which influenced Enlightenment historiography, as well as eighteenth-century attitudes toward nature.
The mastery of nature was viewed by eighteenth-century historians as an important measure of the progress of civilization. This book discusses this topic in connection with the mainstream religious, political, and philosophical elements of Enlightenment culture. It considers works by figures that include Edward Gibbon, Voltaire, Herder, Vico, Raynal, Hume, Adam Smith and William Robertson. It also discusses many classical, medieval, and early modern sources which influenced Enlightenment historiography, as well as eighteenth-century attitudes toward nature.
Nathaniel Wolloch is an Independent Scholar from Israel, specializing in European intellectual history. He is the author of Subjugated Animals: Animals and Anthropocentrism in Early Modern European Culture (2006), and History and Nature in the Enlightenment: Praise of the Mastery of Nature in Eighteenth-Century Historical Literature (2011).
Inhaltsangabe
Preface List of Abbreviations Chapter 1 Cosmology Chapter 2 Cultivation Chapter 3 Rudeness Chapter 4 Barbarism Civilized