ISSN:
0080-4401
Source:
Cambridge Journals Digital Archives
Topics:
History
Notes:
Though we may justly pride ourselves on possessing the greatest historical writers in Hume, Robertson, Gibbon, Grote, Thirlwall, Buckle, &c., there is scarcely a civilized country in this nineteenth century in which the study of universal history is so utterly neglected as in our own. Fostered by a certain learned caste, afraid that too much light thrown on the past might injure their interests in the present, a general opinion has gained ground that history, if studied from a universal or general point of view, can but produce a creditable kind of ignorance and nothing more. Bolingbroke, in opposition to this, tells us that the study of history seemed to him of all others “the most proper to train us up to private and public virtue.” I could quote a number of authorities, both ancient and modern, especially Scottish, German, French, Italian, and American writers, who place the study of history in the van of all studies. The Greek word ἱστορειν means to learn by inquiry, and ἱστορ⋯α is therefore information acquired by inquiry. All our sciences, however, whether abstract or concrete, speculative or technical, are but informations resulting from inquiry. The great question which presents itself in taking the historical development of humanity as a subject for research will be, whether such inquiry can be conducted on a strictly scientific basis.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3677813
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