Edward Gibbon’s Cosmology

This article is a study of Edward Gibbon’s view of the human mastery and cultivation of nature as a sign of cultural progress. It examines the sources of Gibbon’s views on this issue, and specifically the influence of the traditional Western anthropocentric cosmology on his historiographical interpretations. Gibbon’s views on the command of nature are highlighted as forming a central part of his general historiographical and philosophical world view. He is depicted as situating the common early modern praise of mastering nature within a distinctly historiographical context.