During
the last few months, I have been focussing on the British side of my
postdoctoral project, namely the so-called “British Idealists” of the late-nineteenth
and early-twentieth centuries. The current paper is an attempt to bridge the
gap between my previous doctoral research on Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881) and
this new postdoctoral project. In particular, it examines the ways in which
Carlyle’s major writings, most notably Sartor
Resartus (1833-4), The French
Revolution (1837), Past and Present
(1843), and the Latter-Day Pamphlets
(1850), served to pave the way for the reception of Hegel and the rise of
Idealism in Britain during the late nineteenth century. Although Carlyle’s crucial
influence on the British Idealists has often been noted in passing,
particularly with reference to his doctrine of the immanence of the divine in
both nature and man, his opposition to laissez-faire,
and his belief in positive liberty and the ethical role of the state, no
attempt has been made to develop these points at length and in detail, nor to
establish whether other aspects of Carlyle’s thought proved similarly
influential. The current paper, which is more akin to research notes than to a first draft,
will attempt to set out some initial suggestions.
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