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Whig historiography perceives the past as a teleological progression toward the present. In general, Whig historians look for and favour the rise of constitutional government and personal freedoms in any historical period. The term is often used pejoratively to denote any historian that adopts such positions, but it also connotes a specific set of British historians who embodied Whig ideals. Its antithesis can be seen in certain kinds of cultural pessimism. Teleology is the philosophical study of purpose (from the Greek teleos, perfect, complete, which in turn comes from telos, end, result). ...
Statue of Liberty - Liberty is one meaning of freedom. For proper-noun uses of Freedom, see Freedom (disambiguation). ...
A word or phrase is pejorative or derogatory (sometimes misspelled perjorative) if it expresses contempt or disapproval; dyslogistic (noun: dyslogism) is used synonymously (antonyms: meliorative, eulogistic, noun eulogism). ...
Cultural pessimism is a significant presence in the general outlook of many historical cultures: things are going to the dogs, the Golden age is in the past, and the current generation is fit only for dumbing down and cultural careerism. ...
Origins
The category was coined by the Roman Catholic British historian Herbert Butterfield in 1931 in his small but influential book The Whig Interpretation of History. It takes its name from the British Whigs, advocates of the power of Parliament, who opposed the Tories, advocates of the power of the King and the aristocracy. Herbert Butterfield (October 7, 1900-July 20, 1979) was a British historian and philosopher of history (see philosophy of history) who is remembered chiefly for a slim volume entitled The Whig Interpretation of History 1931. ...
1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ...
This article is about the British Whig party. ...
The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ...
For other uses, see Tory (disambiguation). ...
This is a list of British monarchs, that is, the monarchs on the thrones of some of the various kingdoms that have existed on, or incorporated, the island of Great Britain, namely: England (united with Wales from 1536) up to 1707; Scotland up to 1707; The Kingdom of Great Britain...
Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box: The term aristocracy refers to a form of government where power is hereditary, and split between a small number of families. ...
The term has been applied widely in historical disciplines outside of British history (the history of science, for example) to criticize any goal-directed, hero-based, and transhistorical narrative. The abstract noun Whiggishness is sometimes used as a generic term for Whig historiography. It should not be confused with Whiggism as a political ideology, and has no direct relation to either the British or American Whig parties. (The term Whiggery is ambiguous in contemporary usage: it may either mean party politics and ideology, or a general intellectual approach.) Teleology is the philosophical study of purpose (from the Greek teleos, perfect, complete, which in turn comes from telos, end, result). ...
Historiography is the study of the practice of history. ...
This article is about the British Whig party. ...
In politics, the term whig for political groupings has its origins in a term of abuse used by opponents of the Presbyterian Covenanters who marched from the south west of Scotland on Edinburgh in 1648 in what became known as the Whiggamore Raid, with the terms Whiggamore and Whig subsequently...
Whiggery may mean: Whiggism, support for the principles of the British Whig Party of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century Whiggishness, a more cosmic attitude on progress, liberalism, and the arrow of time in history. ...
The nature of Whig History The characteristics of Whig history as defined by Butterfield include: - Interpreting history as a story of progress toward the present, and specifically toward the British constitutional settlement;
- Viewing the British parliamentary, constitutional monarchy as the apex of human political development;
- Assuming that the constitutional monarchy was in fact an ideal held throughout all ages of the past, despite the observed facts of British history and the several power struggles between monarchs and parliaments;
- Assuming that political figures in the past held current political beliefs;
- Assuming that British history was a march of progress whose inevitable outcome was the constitutional monarchy; and
- Presenting political figures of the past as heroes, who advanced the cause of this political progress, or villains, who sought to hinder its inevitable triumph.
Butterfield argued that this approach to history compromised the work of the historian in several ways: This article is part of the series Politics of the United Kingdom Parliament Crown House of Lords Lord Chancellor House of Commons Speaker Prime Minister Cabinet Government Departments Scottish Parliament Scottish Executive National Assembly for Wales Welsh Assembly Government Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland Executive Local government Greater London Authority...
The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ...
This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Heroine (female hero) redirects here. ...
One popular concept of the villain, meant to mimic the purposely distinctive visage of villains from silent films of the early 20th century. ...
- The emphasis on the inevitability of progress leads to the mistaken belief that the progressive sequence of events becomes "a line of causation," tempting the historian to go no further to investigate the causes of historical change.
- The focus on the present as the goal of historical change leads the historian to abridge history, selecting only those events that have some bearing on the present.
Roger Scruton, in his A Dictionary of Political Thought (1982), takes the theory to be centrally concerned with progress and reaction, with the progressives shown as victors and benefactors. Roger Vernon Scruton (born 27 February 1944) is a British philosopher. ...
Progress can refer to: The idea of a process in which societies or individuals become better or more modern (technologically and/or socially). ...
Reactionary (or reactionist) is a political epithet, generally used as a pejorative, originally applied in the context of the French Revolution to counter-revolutionaries who wished to restore the real or imagined conditions of the monarchical Ancien Régime. ...
Whig historians Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and Henry Hallam's Constitutional History of England reveal many Whiggish traits. The Liberal politician Thomas Macaulay was one of the most popular and perhaps the most famous historian of the Whig school, although his work did not feature in Butterfield's 1931 book. According to Ernst Breisach[1] his style captivated the public as did his good sense of the past and firm Whiggish convictions. It is considered that Butterfield had Hallam and Macaulay as principal targets.[2] William Blackstone as illustrated in his Commentaries on the Laws of England. ...
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Henry Hallam (July 9, 1777 - January 21, 1859) was an English historian. ...
This article is about the historic Liberal Party. ...
Quotes His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. ...
In politics, the term whig for political groupings has its origins in a term of abuse used by opponents of the Presbyterian Covenanters who marched from the south west of Scotland on Edinburgh in 1648 in what became known as the Whiggamore Raid, with the terms Whiggamore and Whig subsequently...
Macaulay's History of England carries a traditional Whig narrative and reveals traditional Whig prejudices. It is elegant in style, discursive in tone, and distinctly top-down in its focus. Macaulay's characteristically Whiggish understanding of historical development elevated the achievements of history's victors, and denigrated those of its losers. Macaulay viewed the abdication of James II as the pivot of modern English history and the precondition for English progress. The narrative was imbued with patriotic sentiment and was premised on the belief that Protestantism was inevitably tied to progress. Macaulay's first chapter proposes that: James II of England/VII of Scotland (14 October 1633 – 16 September 1701) became King of Scots, King of England, and King of Ireland on 6 February 1685, and Duke of Normandy on 31 December 1660. ...
- I shall relate how the new settlement was, during many troubled years, successfully defended against foreign and domestic enemies; how, under that settlement, the authority of law and the security of property were found to be compatible with a liberty of discussion and of individual action never before known; how, from the auspicious union of order and freedom, sprang a prosperity of which the annals of human affairs had furnished no example; how our country, from a state of ignominious vassalage, rapidly rose to the place of umpire among European powers; how her opulence and her martial glory grew together; how, by wise and resolute good faith, was gradually established a public credit fruitful of marvels which to the statesmen of any former age would have seemed incredible; how a gigantic commerce gave birth to a maritime power, compared with which every other maritime power, ancient or modern, sinks into insignificance; how Scotland, after ages of enmity, was at length united to England, not merely by legal bonds, but by indissoluble ties of interest and affection; how, in America, the British colonies rapidly became far mightier and wealthier than the realms which Cortes and Pizarro had added to the dominions of Charles the Fifth; how in Asia, British adventurers founded an empire not less splendid and more durable than that of Alexander.
- ... (T)he history of our country during the last hundred and sixty years is eminently the history of physical, of moral, and of intellectual improvement.
Criticism Preoccupation with the undermining of the 'whiggish' was one aspect of the post-World War I re-evaluation of European history in general. Herbert Butterfield wrote, from one side, a celebrated critique of the so-called Whig interpretation of history. Marxist historiography in particular has emphasized the underside of Whig history, rejecting its assumptions about political 'progress' and promoting a less elitist perspective on the past, although maintaining the view of history progressing through a series of goal-directed stages. “The Great War†redirects here. ...
This article discusses the history of the continent of Europe. ...
Marxist or historical materialist historiography is an influential school of historiography. ...
While the "whig interpretation" that Butterfield criticized has lost favor among most academic historians, Whiggish views of the past continue to influence popular understandings of political and social development. Aspects of the whig interpretation are apparent in films, television, political rhetoric, and even history textbooks. [3]
Despite its shortcomings, Whig history remains valuable as entertainment and as a means of understanding the beliefs of their authors. Even the flaws of Whig history are instructive, as they reveal what liberal Britons believed about politics. In addition, Whig history offers an epic tale of dramatic struggles that provide dramatic narratives, even if these fall short of more rigourous academic standards.
Contemporary historiography From "Whiggism and Criticism: Thoughts on Amar and Historiography," by Jason Kuznicki: If budding historians show up at grad school with any significant Whiggishness about them, these tendencies are scoffed quickly out of existence. Even undergrads soon learn which way the wind blows in the academy. And by at the third year at the latest, most of them are scoffing, too. Perhaps Jean Bethke Elshtain put it best: “Somewhere along the line, the idea took hold that, to be an intellectual, you have to be against it, whatever it is. The intellectual is a negator. Affirmation is not in his or her vocabulary.” Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ...
Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain is a prolific feminist political philosopher with the University of Chicago Divinity School and a contributing editor for The New Republic. ...
Presentism Whiggishness is often now identified with presentism, in general terms reasoning from the premise that the current state of affairs is to some extent its own justification, and also justifies and is justified by the historical path that led to it; which thus must be read in terms of its future 'goal' (anachronistically, therefore). So formulated, it is a simple fallacy. This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...
An anachronism (from Greek ana, back, and chronos, time) is an artifact that belongs to another time, a person who seems to be displaced in time (i. ...
History of science These terms are often used now in the history of science.[4] For example Nick Jardine writes:[5] Science is a body of empirical and theoretical knowledge, produced by a global community of researchers, making use of specific techniques for the observation and explanation of real phenomena, this techne summed up under the banner of scientific method. ...
By the mid-1970s, it had become commonplace among historians of science to employ the terms ‘Whig’ and ‘Whiggish’, often accompanied by one or more of ‘hagiographic’, ‘internalist’, ‘triumphalist’, even ‘positivist’, to denigrate grand narratives of scientific progress. At one level there is, indeed, an obvious parallel with the attacks on Whig constitutional history in the opening decades of the century. For, as P. B. M. Blaas has shown, those earlier attacks were part and parcel of a more general onslaught in the name of an autonomous, professional and scientific history, on popular, partisan and moralising historiography. Similarly, in the 1960s and ’70s, the period of consolidation of the history of science as an academic discipline, the attacks on ‘Whiggishness’ (which sometimes appears as ‘Whiggism’ in this era of isms), ‘triumphalism’ and ‘hagiography’ were of a piece with a general repudiation, in favour of more professional and disinterested approaches, of the didactic and often moralistic writings that had dominated the field right up to the 1960s. Historians' rejection of Whiggishness has been criticized by some scientists for failing to appreciate the temporal depth of scientific research.[6]
As teleology In The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (1986, see anthropic principle for details) John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler identify Whiggishness (Whiggery) with a teleological principle, of 'convergence' in history to liberal democracy.[verification needed] In physics and cosmology, the anthropic principle is an umbrella term for various dissimilar attempts to explain the structure of the universe by way of coincidentally balanced features that are necessary and relevant to the existence of observers (usually assumed to be carbon-based life or even specifically human beings). ...
John David Barrow FRS (born November 29, 1952, London) is an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. ...
Frank J. Tipler (born in 1947 in Andalusia, Alabama) is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. ...
Teleology is the philosophical study of purpose (from the Greek teleos, perfect, complete, which in turn comes from telos, end, result). ...
Liberal democracy is a form of government. ...
See also Historiography is the study of the practice of history. ...
This page is a candidate to be copied to Wiktionary. ...
Whiggishness is a generic term of description for some approaches, in the fields of politics and historiography, supposed to accept or adapt attitudes of the Whig politicians in the past of the United Kingdom. ...
Chronological snobbery is the logical fallacy that the thinking, art, or science of an earlier time is inherently inferior when compared to that of the present. ...
The Great man theory is a theory held by some that aims to explain history by the impact of Great men, or heroes: highly influential individuals, either from personal charisma, genius intellects, or great political impact. ...
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of ones own culture. ...
Classical liberalism (also called laissez-faire liberalism[1]) is a term used: to label the philosophy developed by early liberals from the Age of Enlightenment until John Stuart Mill [2] to label the revived economic liberalism of the 20th century, seen in work by Friedrich Hayek[3] and Milton Friedman. ...
Notes - ^ Historiography (second edition, 1994), p.251.
- ^ [1]
- ^ James A. Hijiya, "Why the West is Lost," The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 51, No. 2. (Apr., 1994), pp. 276-292.
- ^ In a sense the very term `the history of science' has itself profoundly Whiggish implications. One may be reasonably clear what `science' means in the 19th century and most of the 18th century. In the 17th century `science' has very different meaning. For example chemistry is inextricably mixed up with alchemy. Before the 17th century dissecting out such a thing as `science' in anything like the modern sense of the term involves profound distortions.[2]
- ^ Nick Jardine, "Whigs and Stories: Herbert Butterfield and the Historiography of Science," .History of Science, 41 (2003): 125-140, at p. 127.
- ^ Edward Harrison, "Whigs, prigs and historians of science", Nature, 329 (1987): 213-14.[3]
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