Editing Thomas Carlyle (section)

== Works ==
{{Main|Philosophy of Thomas Carlyle|Thomas Carlyle's prose style}}
[[File:Carlyle's Seal.png|thumb|Carlyle's "Seal", sketched in 1823. Its Latin motto translates: "May I be wasted so that I be of use."{{Sfn|Blunt|1895|p=92}}]]
Carlyle's corpus spans the genres of "criticism, biography, history, politics, poetry, and religion."{{Sfn|Birrell|1885}} His innovative writing style, known as [[Carlylese]], greatly influenced [[Victorian literature]] and anticipated techniques of [[postmodern literature]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Campbell |first=Ian |date=10 April 2012 |title=Retroview: Our Hero? |url=https://www.the-american-interest.com/2012/04/10/retroview-our-hero/ |access-date=5 February 2022 |website=[[The American Interest]]}}</ref>

In [[Carlylean philosophy|his philosophy]], while not adhering to any formal religion, Carlyle asserted the importance of belief during an age of increasing doubt. Much of his work is concerned with the modern human spiritual condition; he was the first writer to use the expression "[[meaning of life]]".<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Wendell |title=Meaning of Life, The: Early Continental and Analytic Perspectives |url=https://iep.utm.edu/mean-ear/ |access-date=28 December 2022 |website=[[Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |language=en-US}}</ref> In ''[[Sartor Resartus]]'' and in his early ''[[Miscellanies (Carlyle)|Miscellanies]]'', he developed his own [[philosophy of religion]] based upon what he called "[[Natural Supernaturalism]]",{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=1:202–212}} the idea that all things are "Clothes" which at once reveal and conceal the divine, that "a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one",{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=27:388}} and that duty, work and silence are essential.

Carlyle postulated the [[Great Man theory]], a [[philosophy of history]] which contends that history is shaped by exceptional individuals. This approach to history was first promulgated in his lectures ''[[On Heroes]]'' and given specific focus in longer studies like ''[[Oliver Cromwell's Letters and Speeches|Cromwell]]'' and ''[[History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great|Frederick the Great]]''. He viewed history as a "Prophetic Manuscript" that progresses on a [[Social cycle theory|cyclical]] basis, analogous to the [[Phoenix (mythology)|phoenix]] and the seasons. His [[historiographical]] method emphasises the relationship between the event at hand and all those which precede and follow it, which he makes apparent through use of the present (rather than past) tense in his ''[[The French Revolution (Carlyle)|French Revolution]]'' and in other histories.

Raising the "[[Condition-of-England Question]]"{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=29:118}} to address the impact of the [[Industrial Revolution]], Carlyle's [[Social philosophy|social]] and [[political philosophy]] is characterised by [[medievalism]],<ref>{{Citation |last=Taylor |first=Beverly |title=Medievalism |date=14 August 2015 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118405376.wbevl205 |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Victorian Literature |pages=1–7 |editor-last=Felluga |editor-first=Dino Franco |access-date=15 April 2023 |place=Oxford, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781118405376.wbevl205 |isbn=978-1-118-40537-6}}</ref> advocating a "[[Chivalry]] of Labour"{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=10:277}} led by "[[Captains of Industry]]".{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=28:271}} In works of social criticism such as ''[[Past and Present (book)|Past and Present]]'' and ''[[Latter-Day Pamphlets]]'', he attacked [[utilitarianism]] as mere [[atheism]] and [[egoism]],{{Sfn|''Letters''||loc=11:219}} criticised the [[political economy]] of ''[[laissez-faire]]'' as the "[[Dismal Science]]",{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=29:354}} and rebuked "big black [[Democracy]]",{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=20:9}} while championing "''Hero''archy (Government of Heroes)".{{Sfn|''Works''||loc=5:12}}