From Voltaire and Gibbon to Ranke and Marx: Enlightenment, Whig and 'Scientific' History

What this note covers

1. From philosophy to science: the arc of this note
2. Voltaire and the Enlightenment historians
3. Edward Gibbon: irony, evidence and the fall of Rome
4. Macaulay and Whig history
5. Ranke and the scientific ideal
6. Hegel and Marx: history as a process with direction
7. Integrating this period into an argument

7 sections · 10 key terms & formulas · 6 common mistakes