Editing World history (field) (section)

===Early modern===
During the [[Renaissance]] in Europe, history was written about states or nations. The study of history changed during the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] and [[Romanticism]]. [[Voltaire]] described the history of certain ages that he considered important, rather than describing events in chronological order. History became an independent discipline. It was not called ''Philosophia Historiae'' anymore, but merely history (''Historia''). Voltaire, in the 18th century, attempted to revolutionize the study of world history. First, Voltaire concluded that the traditional study of history was flawed. The Christian Church, one of the most powerful entities in his time, had presented a framework for studying history. Voltaire, when writing ''[[History of Charles XII]]'' (1731) and ''[[The Age of Louis XIV]]'' (1751), instead choose to focus on economics, politics, and culture.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biography.com/people/voltaire-9520178|title=Voltaire|website=Biography|language=en-us|access-date=2018-07-24|archive-date=2018-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033316/https://www.biography.com/people/voltaire-9520178|url-status=live}}</ref> These aspects of history were mostly unexplored by his contemporaries and would each develop into their sections of world history. Above all else, Voltaire regarded truth as the most essential part of recording world history. Nationalism and religion only subtracted from objective truth, so Voltaire freed himself for their influence when he recorded history.<ref>{{Citation|last=Shank|first=J.B.|title=Voltaire|date=2015|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/voltaire/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Fall 2015|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2018-07-24|archive-date=2019-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318072941/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/voltaire/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Giambattista Vico]] (1668–1744) in Italy wrote ''Scienza Nuova seconda'' (''[[The New Science]]'') in 1725, which argued history as the expression of human will and deeds.  He thought that men are historical entities and that human nature changes over time. Each epoch should be seen as a whole in which all aspects of culture—art, religion, philosophy, politics, and economics—are interrelated (a point developed later by [[Oswald Spengler]]). Vico showed that myth, poetry, and art are entry points to discovering the true spirit of a culture. Vico outlined a conception of historical development in which great cultures, like Rome, undergo cycles of growth and decline.  His ideas were out of fashion during the Enlightenment but influenced the Romantic historians after 1800.

A major theoretical foundation for world history was given by German philosopher [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]], who saw the modern Prussian state as the latest (though often confused with the highest) stage of world development.

G.W.F. Hegel developed three lenses through which he believed world history could be viewed. Documents produced during a historical period, such as journal entries and contractual agreements, were considered by Hegel to be part of Original History. These documents are produced by a person enveloped within a culture, making them conduits of vital information but also limited in their contextual knowledge. Documents which pertain to Hegel's Original History are classified by modern historians as primary sources.<ref>{{Citation|last=Little|first=Daniel|title=Philosophy of History|date=2017|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/history/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|editor-last=Zalta|editor-first=Edward N.|edition=Summer 2017|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=2018-07-24|archive-date=2019-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318041357/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2017/entries/history/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Reflective History, Hegel's second lens, are documents written with some temporal distance separating the event which is discussed in academic writing. What limited this lens, according to Hegel, was the imposition of the writer's own cultural values and views on the historical event. This criticism of Reflective History was later formalized by Anthropologist Franz Boa and coined as Cultural relativism by Alain Locke. Both of these lenses were considered to be partially flawed by Hegel.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Soul and the Body in Hegel's Anthropology|last=Nicholas|first=Mowad|publisher=Loyola University Chicago|year=2010}}</ref>

Hegel termed the lens which he advocated to view world history through as Philosophical History.  To view history through this lens, one must analyze events, civilizations, and periods objectively. When done in this fashion, the historian can then extract the prevailing theme from their studies. This lens differs from the rest because it is void of any cultural biases and takes a more analytical approach to history. World History can be a broad topic, so focusing on extracting the most valuable information from certain periods may be the most beneficial approach. This third lens, as did Hegel's definitions of the other two, affected the study of history in the early modern period and our contemporary period.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCabe|first=David|title=Hegel and the Idea of Philosophical History|jstor=27744789|journal=History of Philosophy Quarterly|volume=15|issue=3|pages=369–388|year=1998}}</ref>

Another early modern historian was [[Adam Ferguson]]. Ferguson's main contribution to the study of world history was his ''An Essay on the History of Civil Society'' (1767).<ref>Ferguson, Adam. ''An Essay on the History of Civil Society. (1767).''</ref> According to Ferguson, world history was a combination of two forms of history. One was natural history; the aspects of our world which God created. The other, which was more revolutionary, was social history. For him, social history was the progress humans made towards fulfilling God's plan for humanity. He believed that progress, which could be achieved through individuals pursuing commercial success, would bring us closer to a perfect society; but we would never reach one.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Social and Political Philosophy of Adam Ferguson – A Commentary on His Essay on The History of Civil Society|last=Hamowy|first=Ronald|publisher=University of Chicago|year=1969|location=Chicago, Illinois}}</ref> However, he also theorized that complete dedication to commercial success could lead to societal collapses—like what happened in Rome—because people would lose morality. Through this lens, Ferguson viewed world history as humanity's struggle to reach an ideal society.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/Ferguson/Adam%20Ferguson.htm|title=Adam Ferguson|website=www.d.umn.edu|access-date=2018-07-24|archive-date=2018-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711214448/http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/4111/Ferguson/Adam%20Ferguson.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Henry Home, Lord Kames]] was a philosopher during the Enlightenment and contributed to the study of world history. In his major historical work, ''Sketches on the History of Man'', Kames outlined the four stages of human history which he observed.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/kames.htm|title=Henry Home, Lord Kames|website=www.hetwebsite.net|access-date=2018-07-24|archive-date=2018-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033337/http://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/kames.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The first and most primitive stage was small hunter-gatherer groups. Then, to form larger groups, humans transitioned into the second stage when they began to domesticate animals. The third stage was the development of agriculture. This new technology established trade and higher levels of cooperation amongst sizable groups of people. With the gathering of people into agricultural villages, laws and social obligations needed to be developed so a form of order could be maintained. The fourth, and final stage, involved humans moving into market towns and seaports where agriculture was not the focus. Instead, commerce and other forms of labor arouse in a society. By defining the stages of human history, Homes influenced his successors. He also contributed to the development of other studies such as sociology and anthropology.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/kames-on-progress-and-providence|title=Kames on Progress and Providence - Online Library of Liberty|website=oll.libertyfund.org|access-date=2018-07-24|archive-date=2018-07-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725063258/http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/kames-on-progress-and-providence|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Marxist theory]] of [[historical materialism]] claims the history of the world is fundamentally determined by the ''material conditions'' at any given time&nbsp;– in other words, the relationships which people have with each other to fulfil basic needs such as feeding, clothing and housing themselves and their families.<ref>See, in particular, [http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ Marx and Engels, ''The German Ideology''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171022082029/http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ |date=2017-10-22 }}</ref> Overall, [[Karl Marx|Marx]] and [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] claimed to have identified five successive stages of the development of these material conditions in [[Western Europe]].<ref>Marx makes no claim to have produced a master key to history. Historical materialism is not "an historico-philosophic theory of the marche generale imposed by fate upon every people, whatever the historic circumstances in which it finds itself" (Marx, Karl: Letter to editor of the Russian paper ''Otetchestvennye Zapiskym'', 1877). His ideas, he explains, are based on a concrete study of the actual conditions that pertained in Europe.</ref>
The theory divides the history of the world into the following periods:<ref>Marx, ''Early writings'', Penguin, 1975, p. 426.</ref><ref name="Charles Taylor 1980 p. 330">Charles Taylor, “Critical Notice”, ''Canadian Journal of Philosophy'' 10 (1980), p. 330.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marx.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm|title=Critique of the Gotha Programme|date=July 5, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030705120509/http://www.marx.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm |archive-date=2003-07-05 }}</ref><ref name=civilwar>{{Cite web|url=http://www.marx.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm|title=The Civil War in France|date=July 5, 2003|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030705030211/http://www.marx.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm |archive-date=2003-07-05 }}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
| last                  = Gewirth
| first                 = Alan
| author-link            = Alan Gewirth
| title                 = The Community of Rights
| url                   = https://books.google.com/books?id=tFJwLFjF5xQC
| access-date            = 2012-12-29
| edition               = 2
| year                  = 1998
| publisher             = University of Chicago Press
| isbn                  = 9780226288819
| page                  = 168
| quote                 = Marxists sometimes distinguish between 'personal property' and 'private property,' the former consisting in consumer goods directly used by the owner, while the latter is private ownership of the major means of production.
}}</ref> Primitive communism; Slave society; Feudalism; Capitalism; and Socialism.

Regna Darnell and Frederic Gleach argue that, in the Soviet Union, the Marxian theory of history was the only accepted orthodoxy, and stifled research into other schools of thought on history.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Regna Darnell|author2=Frederic Gleach|title=Histories of Anthropology Annual|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8jBlLIznIAC&pg=PA56|year=2007|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|page=56|isbn=978-0803266636}}</ref>  However, many adherents of Marx's theories argue that [[Stalinism|Stalin distorted]] [[Marxism]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.politicalaffairs.net/how-stalin-distorted-marxism-2/ | title=How Stalin Distorted Marxism » pa | access-date=2015-03-24 | archive-date=2015-03-18 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318063954/http://politicalaffairs.net/how-stalin-distorted-marxism-2 | url-status=live }}</ref>