“The Most Illustrious Philosopher and Historian of the Age”
“The Most Illustrious Philosopher and Historian of the Age”
Hume and the Balances of Enlightenment History
This chapter focuses on the works of David Hume, whose writings serve as a model for the complex distances characterizing eighteenth-century histories and the measure of the shift that were to come with the Romantic influences belonging to the following century. It suggests that much of Hume's reputation as a distanced and abstracting historian comes from the legacy of a narrative voice that cultivated balance and detachment. It also explains that greater temporal and ideological distantiation in historical writing encourages a new and more openly affective connection to the past.
Keywords: David Hume, complex distances, Romantic influences, narrative voice, historian, eighteenth century, historical writing, temporal distantiation, ideological distantiation
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