Analysis On Edward Gibbon's Theory Of Historiography And Social Thoughts

The centre issue in tackled in this thesis is analysis of Edward Gibbon's thought of history and social. "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", "Autobiography" and other foreign data are the basis of the research.The Enlightenment of 18^th century which was succeed to The Renaissance and The Erudition, but ahead of Rankean School. The Enlightenment of 18^th century is the crucial stage of Western European. Scottish School is perfected and completed the esprit of The Enlightenment. Not only was Edward Gibbon a member of Scottish School, but also highly praised the French Enlightenment those who admired. At the same time, he was interested in The Erudition research method. Therefore, put Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" as well as Gibbon's personal life experiences at the age of the 18^th century and social background can be reflected Gibbon's the thought of history and social of the common thinking and individuality.This article first briefly reviews the British historian Edward Gibbon's the historical background and personal experience, in order to provide a historical context for further study. We may discover that the British history research fell behind the Europe continent forms the sharp contrast with the 18^th century Britain hegemony's fast development. Edward Gibbon's remarkable achievements had been gained in the domain of historical was mainly benefits from his study of history research technique and logical thought training in Swiss Lausanne. From this, the Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of Roman Empire" unavoidably has the European land history ideological trend characteristic.The second and third chapter has discussed the Edward Gibbon's history theory and the social thought. Gibbon's history theory mainly receives the French Enlightenment thought. His social thought manifested the Scottish school. Finally, this article summarized Edward Gibbon's "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" in the historical contribution and it's own insufficiency.