Nathaniel Wolloch - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
I'm an Israeli historian and author, currently teaching as a visiting lecturer at the Department of History at the University of Oklahoma. I'm interested in the cultural and intellectual history of Europe c. 1600 - c. 1850, with an emphasis on the Enlightenment, the history of attitudes toward nature and animals, the history of historiography, art history, economic thought, and major figures such as Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, John Stuart Mill, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Thomas Babington Macaulay.
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Books by Nathaniel Wolloch
Macaulay and the Enlightenment, 2022
Papers by Nathaniel Wolloch
Key to the Scottish conception of historical progress was the famous four-stages theory, claiming... more Key to the Scottish conception of historical progress was the famous four-stages theory, claiming that all societies, given the proper natural surroundings, would progress from a hunting stage, to a shepherding (pastoral), agricultural, and finally the commercial stage found in modern advanced societies. Scholars have long recognized that each stage was characterized by the development of new modes of acquiring subsistence. What has not been sufficiently emphasized, however, is that stadial theory entailed growing sophistication in utilizing natural resources, thus enhancing the Enlightenment's emphasis on the mastery of nature. The purpose of the present paper is not to revisit these well-studied aspects of Scottish Enlightenment thought, but rather to investigate their intersection. Scholars to date have devoted little attention to how these two topics were often mutually at play in discussions of the progress, or lack thereof, of non-Europeans. This was particularly evident in the thought of Robertson, and to a certain extent also Smith. A belief in the inherent universal propensity of all human societies to progress in a similar manner under similar geographical and climatic conditions was a mainstay of eighteenth-century thought, and particularly of the Scottish Enlightenment outlook. 1 Key to the Scottish conception of historical progress was the famous four-stages theory, claiming that all societies, given the proper natural surroundings, would progress from a hunting stage, to a shepherding (pastoral),
History of the Human Sciences, 2013
Macaulay and the Enlightenment, 2022
Key to the Scottish conception of historical progress was the famous four-stages theory, claiming... more Key to the Scottish conception of historical progress was the famous four-stages theory, claiming that all societies, given the proper natural surroundings, would progress from a hunting stage, to a shepherding (pastoral), agricultural, and finally the commercial stage found in modern advanced societies. Scholars have long recognized that each stage was characterized by the development of new modes of acquiring subsistence. What has not been sufficiently emphasized, however, is that stadial theory entailed growing sophistication in utilizing natural resources, thus enhancing the Enlightenment's emphasis on the mastery of nature. The purpose of the present paper is not to revisit these well-studied aspects of Scottish Enlightenment thought, but rather to investigate their intersection. Scholars to date have devoted little attention to how these two topics were often mutually at play in discussions of the progress, or lack thereof, of non-Europeans. This was particularly evident in the thought of Robertson, and to a certain extent also Smith. A belief in the inherent universal propensity of all human societies to progress in a similar manner under similar geographical and climatic conditions was a mainstay of eighteenth-century thought, and particularly of the Scottish Enlightenment outlook. 1 Key to the Scottish conception of historical progress was the famous four-stages theory, claiming that all societies, given the proper natural surroundings, would progress from a hunting stage, to a shepherding (pastoral),
History of the Human Sciences, 2013
Intellectual History Review, 2011
Eighteenth-Century Life, 2009
Philosophy and Literature, 2008
This article examines Jean-Jacques Rousseau's views on the need for an ethical treatment of a... more This article examines Jean-Jacques Rousseau's views on the need for an ethical treatment of animals, placing them within the context of the early modern debate on this topic, and the tradition of "love of animals" known as "theriophily." It discusses the broad extent of Rousseau's views on this issue, and their importance, specifically because of his wide influence. However, an