History and Nature in the Enlightenment

The mastery of nature was viewed by eighteenth-century historians as an important measure of the progress of civilization. Modern scholarship has hitherto taken insufficient notice of this important idea. This book discusses the topic in connection with the mainstream religious political and philosophical elements of Enlightenment culture. It considers works by Edward Gibbon Voltaire Herder Vico Raynal Hume Adam Smith William Robertson and a wide range of lesser- and better-known figures. It also discusses many classical medieval and early modern sources which influenced Enlightenment historiography as well as eighteenth-century attitudes toward nature in general.