Barbarism and Religion

by J. G. A. Pocock

Overview

The second volume of Barbarism and Religion explores the historiography of Enlightenment, and looks at Gibbon's intellectual relationship with writers sucah as Giannone, Voltaire, Hume, Robertson, Ferguson and Adam Smith. Edward Gibbon's intellectual trajectory is both similar but at points crucially distinct from the dominant Latin "Enlightened narrative" these thinkers developed. The interaction of philosophy, erudition and narrative is central to enlightened historiography, and John Pocock again shows how the Decline and Fall is both akin to but distinct from the historiographical context within which Gibbon wrote his great work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521640022
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/07/1999
Series:	Barbarism and Religion 2 Volume Hardback Set
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.26(d)

About the Author

Born in London and brought up in Christchurch, New Zealand, J. G. A. Pocock was educated at the Universities of Canterbury and Cambridge, and was for many years (1974-1994) Professor of History at The Johns Hopkins University. His many seminal works on intellectual history include The Ancient Constitution and the Feudal Law (1957, Second Edition 1987), Politics, Language and Time (1971), The Machiavellian Moment (1975), and Virtue, Commerce and History (1985). He has also edited The Political Works of James Harrington (1977) and Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1987), as well as the collaborative study The Varieties of British Political Thought (1995). A Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Historical Society, Professor Pocock is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Philosophical Society.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. England and Switzerland, 1737–1763: 1. Putney, Oxford and the question of English Enlightenment; 2. Lausanne and the Arminian Enlightenment; 3. The re-education of young Gibbon: method, unbelief and the turn towards history; 4. The Hampshire militia and the problems of modernity; 5. Study in the camp: erudition and the search for a narrative; Part II. The Encounter with Paris and the Defence of Erudition, 1761–1763: 6. The politics of scholarship in French and English Enlightenment; 7. Erudition and Enlightenment in the Académie des Inscriptions; 8. D'Alembert's Discours Preliminaire: the philosophe perception of history; 9. The Essai sur l'Etude de la Litterature: imagination, irony and history; 10. Paris and the gens de lettres: experience and recollection; Part III. Lausanne and Rome: The Journey Towards a Subject, 1763–1765: 11. The return to Lausanne and the pursuit of erudition; 12. The journey to Rome and the transformation of intentions; Epilogue: Gibbon and the rhythm that was different; Bibliographies; Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

'Pocock manages to place Gibbon within these larger cosmopolitan movements without diminishing the historian's extraordinary accomplishment.' Tim Breen, New York Times Review of Books

'Pocock the historian of political thought has not been altogether useless to Pocock the historian of Gibbon's Roman Empire.' Peter Burke, European Legacy

'… the grandeur of Pocock's conception amazes, but it is often the asides and apercus that linger longest in the mind.' David Armitage, Lingua Franca

'Thus we come back to the English Protestant Enlightenment and the point from which John Pocock set out on his magnificent tour de force.' Nicholas Tyacke, Times Literary Supplement

Editorial Reviews

'Pocock manages to place Gibbon within these larger cosmopolitan movements without diminishing the historian's extraordinary accomplishment.' Tim Breen, New York Times Review of Books

'Pocock the historian of political thought has not been altogether useless to Pocock the historian of Gibbon's Roman Empire.' Peter Burke, European Legacy

'… the grandeur of Pocock's conception amazes, but it is often the asides and apercus that linger longest in the mind.' David Armitage, Lingua Franca

'Thus we come back to the English Protestant Enlightenment and the point from which John Pocock set out on his magnificent tour de force.' Nicholas Tyacke, The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher