Editing Historiography (section)

====David Hume====
At the same time, philosopher [[David Hume]] was having a similar effect on the study of history in [[Great Britain]]. In 1754 he published ''[[The History of England (Hume book)|The History of England]]'', a 6-volume work which extended "From the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688". Hume adopted a similar scope to Voltaire in his history; as well as the history of Kings, Parliaments, and armies, he examined the history of culture, including literature and science, as well. His short biographies of leading scientists explored the process of scientific change and he developed new ways of seeing scientists in the context of their times by looking at how they interacted with society and each other—he paid special attention to [[Francis Bacon]], [[Robert Boyle]], [[Isaac Newton]] and [[William Harvey]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wertz |first1=S. K. |year=1993 |title=Hume and the Historiography of Science |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=54 |issue=3|pages=411–436 |doi=10.2307/2710021 |jstor=2710021 }}</ref>

He also argued that the quest for liberty was the highest standard for judging the past, and concluded that after considerable fluctuation, England at the time of his writing had achieved "the most entire system of liberty, that was ever known amongst mankind".<ref>Hume vol. 6. p. 531 cited in {{cite book|author=John Philipps Kenyon|title=The history men: the historical profession in England since the Renaissance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1LkbAAAAIAAJ|year=1984|publisher=U. of Pittsburgh Press|page=42|isbn=978-0822959007}}</ref>