2. Politics and Culture in Hume’s History of England

Abstract

This chapter elucidates the political theory underlying Hume's History of England. Hume's History of England was a significant predecessor to Gibbon's philosophical history, particularly its enlightened narrative of the decline and fall of ancient civilization into barbarism and superstition in the middle ages, succeeded by the re-emergence of liberty, commerce, arts, and sciences in the modern world. Philosophically, The History of England is limited by its bourgeois horizons. While the work significantly departs from Whig historiography in its consideration of civilized monarchy and critique of social contract theory, and benefits from an awareness of shifting political cultures over time, its evaluative standards are nevertheless confined to a conception of enlightened civil society. Keywords:arts; barbaric freedom; culture; English constitution; history of England; Hume; philosophical history; political theory