On The Historical Thoughts Of Edward Gibbon

Taking a wide view of the development of western historiography, it is easy to find the whole development track of historical science of rationalism, which connects the humanism historiography and romantic historiography in the third turning period. It restores the secularization of historiography, pushing the historiography to a new height again. Functioning as a bridge in the full development of western historiography, historical science of rationalism merges the medieval historiography with the modern historiography. The exploration of the historical science of rationalism helps us to understand the evolution of the development of western historiography, and make its development clues clear. As a big shove behind the scene, the historical science of rationalism directly depicts the system of the western modern historiography. Thus, the study of the historical science of rationalism will make us have a better understanding and exploration of the western historiography or make an extraordinary significance to the deep humanistic motivation of the Modern Western developmentEdward Gibbon (1737-1794) is the most distinguished British historian during the period of rationalism. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, his immortal work, which is recognized as the highest-valued work of the historical science of rationalism, has aroused a widespread notice of scholars more than200years since its appearance.Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire not only is an outstanding example of the historical science of rationalism during that period for its profound and vivid interpretation, but also is an highly personal work of Gibbon, in which gibbon expresses himself on a comprehensive scale to the later generations. That is to say, both Gibbon and his work, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, are indispensable in exploring the historical science of rationalism and even the full development of modern western historiography. Precisely for this reason, the author holds that it is very necessary to probe into the Gibbon and his work.The whole dissertation is divided into several parts:Introduction, Gibbon’s Life and Brief Introduction of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Society and Individual--the Formation of Gibbon’s Thoughts, Gibbon’s Historical Ideology, Gibbon’s Social Political Views and Conclusion.The first part of the dissertation, Introduction, starts with the significance of this study and a brief back glance of the relevant research studies conducted home and abroad.The second part is a brief introduction to Gibbon’s life experience and Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which is the main research object of this paper.The third part, Society and Individual--the Formation of Gibbon’s Thoughts, carries out a brief analysis of influencing factors which formulate the gibbon’s political and social concepts, mainly from the viewpoint of society and personal experience.According to Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, the fourth part, Gibbon’s Historical Ideology, is a generalization of his historical ideology including the continuous historical viewpoint, rational historical viewpoint, geographic environmental determinism, ruler of the traditional historiography learned.The fifth part, Gibbon’s Social Political Views, summarizes the limited "democratic political thoughts" and "balanced theory" which Gibbon has, by analyzing Autobiography of Edward Gibbon and Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.The sixth part reaches a conclusion which reflects the author’s personal understanding about the status of Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the thoughts of Gibbon.