Thomas Blackwell (scholar): Difference between revisions

| name = Thomas Blackwell

| image = =

| image_size =

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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1701|8|4}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1757|3|6|1701|8|14}}

| workplaces = [[Marischal College]]

| alma_mater = [[Marischal College]], [[University of Aberdeen]]

| known_for =

| relatives = Thomas Blackwell (father), Christian Johnston (mother), Alexander Blackwell (brother)

| spouse = Barbara Black

| children =

| influencedsignature = Herder

'''Thomas Blackwell''' the younger (4 August 1701 – {{snd}}6 March 1757) was a classical scholar, historian and "one of the major figures in the [[Scottish Enlightenment]]."<ref>Wykes, David L. (2011). "The Revd John Aikin senior Kibworth School and Warrington Academy." In: ''Religious Dissent and the Aikin-Barbauld Circle, 1740–1860''. Cambridge University Press, p. 31.</ref>

He was born on 4 August 1701 in the city of Aberdeen, son of [[Thomas Blackwell (principal)|Rev. Dr Thomas Blackwell]] (?1660–1728), oneministers of the ministers[[Kirk of St Nicholas]] in Aberdeen. and later Principal of [[Marischal College]]<ref>Fordyce, Alexander Dingwall (1885). "Blackwell (Thomas, LL.D.)." In: [https://archive.org/stream/cihm_05793#page/n5/mode/2up ''Family Record of the Name of Dingwall Fordyce in Aberdeenshire'']. Toronto: C. Blackett Robinson, p. 21.</ref> and his wife Christian Johnston (d.1749). His father was Patron of the [[Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen]] from 1714 to 1728.<ref>http{{Cite web|url=https://www.seventradesofaberdeen.co.uk/patrons-over-the-years/|title=Patrons – Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen &#124; Craftsmen in Aberdeen, Scotland.|website=seventradesofaberdeen.co.uk}}</ref>

In May 1751, he married Barbara Black, third daughter of James Black, Dean of Guild of Aberdeen, and his wife Agnes Fordyce, daughter of Provost George Fordyce.<ref>Fordyce (1885), p. 20.</ref> They had no children. <ref name="auto">Fordyce (1885), p. 23.</ref> but they educated [[Alexander Fordyce]], her brother. Thomas Blackwell died of a consumptive illness in [[Edinburgh]] on 6 March 1757. His remains were buried in [[Greyfriars Churchyard]].<ref>Fordyce (1885), p. 23.<name="auto"/ref>

==Major Worksworks==

In the ''Enquiry'' Blackwell considered why Homer was supreme as an epic poet and concluded that this was owing almost entirely to natural forces.<ref>"In 1735 Thomas Blackwell, Professor of Greek at Aberdeen, had published his ''Inquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer''. It made a considerable impression both at home and abroad, because it hit the mind of the age by tracing Homer's excellence to the happy concurrence of natural conditions." — Jebb—Jebb, Richard Claverhouse (1904). "The Homeric Question." In: [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t8jd4s873;view=1up;seq=7 ''Homer: An Introduction to the Iliad and the Odyssey'']. Boston: Ginn & Company, p. 116 (footnote).</ref> Homer was the outcome of a specific society and natural environment,<ref>Labio, Catherine (2004). ''Origins and the Enlightenment: Aesthetic Epistemology from Descartes to Kant''. Cornell University Press, pp. 39–40.</ref> which combined to shape the inherited culture and produce a setting highly favourable to epic poetry.<ref>Mack, Ruth (2009). ''Literary Historicity: Literature and Historical Experience in Eighteenth-century Britain''. Stanford University Press, p. 139.</ref> Blackwell’sBlackwell's idea that, instead of being innate as hitherto supposed, culture was learned and continually changing, was to become one of the basic assumptions of modern [[cultural anthropology]].<ref>"First, the state of the country, where a person is born and bred; in which I include the common manners of the inhabitants, their constitution civil and religious, with its causes and consequences: Their manners are seen in the ordinary way of living, as it happens to be polite or barbarous, luxurious or simple. Next, the manners of the times, or the prevalent humors and professions in vogue: These two are public, and have a common effect on the whole generation. Of a more confined nature is, first, private education; and after that, the particular way of life we choose and pursue, with our fortunes in it. From these accidents, My Lord, men in every country may be justly said to draw their character, and derive their manners. They make us what we are, in so far as they reach our sentiments, and give us a peculiar turn and appearance: A change in any one of them makes an alteration upon us; and taken together, we must consider them as the molds that form us into those habits and dispositions, which sway our conduct and distinguish our actions.” — Blackwell"—Blackwell (1735). ''An Enquiry Into the Life and Writings of Homer''. London: E. Dilly, p. 11.</ref>

''Enquiry'' had a high reputation with Blackwell's contemporaries<ref>"Blackwell's ''Enquiry'' was one of the most influential works of eighteenth-century classical philology, an inspiration not only to British scholars but to intellectuals in other countries, principally Germany, as well." — Bauman—Bauman, Richard & Charles L. Briggs (2003). ''Voices of Modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality''. Cambridge University Press, p. 90.</ref> ([[Gibbon, Edward|Gibbon]] praised as "an effort of genius";<ref>Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1984). ''Biographia Literaria, Or, Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions'', Vol. 7, Princeton University Press, p. 40.</ref> [[Johann Gottfried Herder|Herder]] called a "key" to Homer<ref>Simonsuuri, Kirsti (1979). "Thomas Blackwell: The Problem of Homer's Genius." In: ''Homer's Original Genius: Eighteenth-century Notions of the Early Greek Epic (1688–1798)''. Cambridge University Press, p. 101.</ref>) and he his credited as having revived the study of Greek literature in the North of Scotland.<ref>Anderson, Peter John (1906). ''Studies in the History and Development of the University of Aberdeen''. Aberdeen University Press, p. 207.</ref>

Blackwell's theory of the formative effects of climate<ref>"It's essential at the outset to understand the meaning of climate in the eighteenth century. It does not have its meteorological denotation; instead, Johnson defines it as 'A space upon the surface of the Earth, measured from the Equator to the polar circles in each of which spaces the longest day is half-an-hour longer' (Dictionary, 10th E. [London, 1792]). Cf. the 1771 Encyclopædia Britannica: climate is "a space upon the terrestrial globe." — Berry—Berry, Christopher J. (1974). "'Climate' in the Eighteenth Century: James Dunbar and the Scottish Case," ''Texas Studies in Literature and Language'' '''16''', No. 2, p. 281.</ref> on our character and culture<ref>"In the division, commonly made of climates, the rough and cold are observed to produce the strongest bodies, and most martial spirits; the hotter, lazy bodies with cunning and obstinate passions; but the temperate regions, lying under the benign influences of a genial sky, have the best chance for a fine perception, and a proportioned eloquence. Good sense is indeed said to be a product of every country, and I believe it is; but the richest growths, and fairest shoots of it, spring, like other plants, from the happiest exposition and most friendly soil.” — Blackwell"—Blackwell (1735), p. 5.</ref> greatly impressed and influenced [[Johann Gottfried Herder]],<ref>Norton, Robert Edward (1991). ''Herder's Aesthetics and the European Enlightenment''. Cornell University Press, p. 60.</ref> and it's well known today how [[Hippolyte Taine|Taine]] drew heavily on the German philosopher's ideas.<ref>"Taine's indebtedness to Herder has not yet fully been recognized. Every element of Taine's theory is containd in Herder's writings." — Koller—Koller, Armin H. (1912). "Johann Gottfried Herder and Hippolyte Taine: Their Theories of Milieu," ''PMLA'' '''27''', p. xxxix.</ref><ref>Hoyrup, Jens (2000). ''Human Sciences: Reappraising the Humanities Through History and Philosophy''. SUNY Press, p. 157.</ref><ref>Sternhell, Zeev (2004). "Fascism: Reflections on the Fate of Ideas in Twentieth-Century History." In: Michael Freeden, Ed., ''Reassessing Political Ideologies: The Durability of Dissent''. Routledge, pp. 92–115.</ref><ref>Evans, Brad (2005). ''Before Cultures''. University of Chicago Press, p. 90.

Blackwell’sBlackwell's work enjoyed a high contemporary reputation, and for nearly half a century he was regarded as the foremost Homeric scholar in Europe. But his Scottish Whig politics attracted bitterly hostile criticism from conservatively- minded English critics like [[Samuel Johnson]],<ref>Greene, Donald (2009). ''The Politics of Samuel Johnson''. University of Georgia Press, p. 173.</ref> and his achievement was long cast into the shadow.<ref>"Inexplicably, historians have often made short shrift of Blackwell." — Norton—Norton (1991), p. 60 (footnote).</ref> He is only now beginning to re-emerge as one of the most distinctive and original thinkers of the [[Scottish Enlightenment]].

* [[Winckelmann|Johann Joachim Winckelmann]]

* Whitney, Lois (1926). "Thomas Blackwell, a Disciple of Shaftesbury," ''Philological Quarterly'' '''5''', pp.&nbsp;196–211196f211.

*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Blackwell, Thomas|volume=4|page=27}}

[[Category:18th-century Scottish historians]]