Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
Summary
In his inaugural lecture, delivered at Cambridge in 1895, Lord Acton expressed the conviction that there is ‘an evident and intelligible line’ which marks off the modern age in Europe from that which preceded it. The modern epoch did not succeed the mediaeval era ‘by normal succession, with outward tokens of legitimate descent’:
Unheralded, it founded a new order of things, under a law of innovation, sapping the ancient reign of continuity. In those days Columbus subverted the notions of the world, and reversed the conditions of production, wealth, and power; in those days Machiavelli released government from the restraint of law; Erasmus diverted the current of ancient learning from profane into Christian channels; Luther broke the chain of authority and tradition at the strongest link; and Copernicus erected an invincible power that set for ever the mark of progress upon the time that was to come… It was an awakening of new life; the world revolved in a different orbit, determined by influences unknown before.
This shattering of the traditional order in Europe, Acton goes on to say, was the source of the development of historical science. Traditional society, by definition, continually looks back into the past, and the past is its present. But it is exactly because this is the case that there is no concern with ‘history’ as such; the continuity of yesterday and today minimises the clarity with which distinctions are drawn between what ‘was’ and what ‘is’.
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- Capitalism and Modern Social TheoryAn Analysis of the Writings of Marx, Durkheim and Max Weber, pp. xi - xviPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1971