Jacob Burckhardt's Social and Political Thought PDF
Preview Jacob Burckhardt's Social and Political Thought
JACOB BURCKHARDT'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT This page intentionally left blank RICHARD SIGURDSON Jacob Burckhardt's Social and Political Thought UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com © University of Toronto Incorporated 2004 Toronto Buffalo London Printed in Canada ISBN 0-8020-4780-7 (cloth) Printed on acid-free paper National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Sigurdson, Richard Franklin Jacob Burkhardt's social and political thought / Richard Sigurdson Includes bibliograhical references and index. ISBN 0-8020-4780-7 1. Burckhardt, Jacob, 1818-1897 - Political and social views. I. Title. DI5.B8S54 2004 907.202 C2003-906791-2 This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP). To my parents, Frank and Helen Sigurdson This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix Introduction: A New Dimension to Burckhardt? 3 Part One: Burckhardt and the Birth of Cultural History 1 A Historian in Troubled Times 19 2 Cultural versus Political History: Burckhardt and Ranke 59 3 Burckhardt's Cultural History: Philosophy, Style, and Poetry 87 Part Two: Burckhardt's Social and Political Thought 4 Elements: Scepticism, Organicism, and Human Nature 131 5 Themes: Freedom, the State, and Society 164 6 Burckhardt and Nietzsche: Two Critiques of Modernity 198 Conclusion: An Astute Political Thinker 221 Notes 227 References 261 Index of Names 271 Index of Subjects 277 This page intentionally left blank Preface This is a book about the political ideas of the nineteenth-century Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt (1818-97). He is one of those think- ers relatively well known among educated people, but not so promi- nent as to be immediately recognizable by everyone. His book on The Culture of the Renaissance in Italy (1860) is still widely read by succes- sive new cohorts of students and scholars. As well, his name crops up in studies of European history, culture, art, architecture, painting, and so on. He is usually regarded as a venerable old-style scholar with wise things to say on a number of weighty topics. Aside from his groundbreaking hypothesis about the nature of the Renaissance, his lectures on the Greeks and his reflections on the general course of events in world history are the most often quoted by learned writers. There are also many Burckhardt admirers among professional histori- ographers and philosophers of history. His pioneering work in cul- tural history and his emphasis on historical style, they tell us, provide useful lessons for contemporary scholars. Of course, there is also a small but hard-core group of devoted Burckhardt scholars who have mined the archives and produced a treasure trove of scholarship. Pri- marily their work is published in German, though there is a rich and profound English-language literature as well. The cradle of Burckhardt scholarship is at his home university in his beloved home city of Basel, Switzerland, where monumental efforts have been made to dissemi- nate his work, analyse its historical significance, and celebrate his achievements. Most stunning in this regard is the complete, critical edition of Burckhardt's writings currently under preparation. Twenty- seven volumes are planned, some of which have now appeared. The final work will include multiple volumes containing previously un- published or partially published material.
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