Barbarism and Religion: Volume 4, Barbarians, Savages and Empires
Cambridge University Press, 10/27/2005
EAN 9780521856256, ISBN10: 0521856256
Hardcover, 388 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
'Barbarism and Religion' - Edward Gibbon's own phrase - is the title of a sequence of works by John Pocock designed to situate Gibbon, and his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, in a series of contexts in the history of eighteenth-century Europe. In the fourth volume in the sequence, first published in 2005, Pocock argues that barbarism was central to the history of western historiography, to the history of the Enlightenment, and to Edward Gibbon himself. As a concept it was deeply problematic to Enlightened historians seeking to understand their own civilised societies in the light of exposure to newly discovered civilisations which were, until then, beyond the reach of history itself.
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. The History and Theory of Barbarism
1. Introducing the barbarian
problems of barbarism and religion
2. Anquetil-Duperron
despotism and prophecy in Sassanid Persia
3. Antoine-Yves Goguet
the Confusion of Tongues and the origins of civility
4. Thomas Carte
Japhetic settlers in the western islands
5. The first Germans
lethargy and passion in a transhumant culture
Part II. Joseph de Guignes and the Discovery of Eurasia
6. Gentile history in the further Asia
7. The many faces of Fo
the problem of religion in Eurasian history
8. Hans, Huns and Romans
the rhythms of barbarism and empire
Part III. The New World and the Problem of History
9. The invention and discovery of savagery
10. Robertson's America
the Scottish theoretical encounter with the New World
11. The universe of savagery and the search for history
12. Ancient history for modern settlers
the response to Robertson
Part IV. The Crisis of the Seaborne Empires
13. European history and the global ocean
14. The antiquity of Asia
legislators, priests and the tragedy of history
15. American savages and European barbarians
the invasion of the natural world
16, Slaves and settlers
the sugar islands in the new geopolitics
17. Utopia and revolution
the northern continent in history
Conclusion
18. Gibbon and the Empires
Envoi
Bibliography of works cited
Index.