Thomas Blackwell (scholar): Difference between revisions

|nationality = [[Scottish_peopleScottish people|Scottish]]

He was born on 4 August 1701 in the city of Aberdeen, son of Rev. Thomas Blackwell (?1660-1728), one of the ministers of Aberdeen.<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> He attended the Grammar School of his native place and studied Greek and philosophy at [[Marischal College]], graduating M.A. in 1718. He was presented to the chair of Greek at Marischal in 1723,<ref>From 1723 to 1757.</ref>, becoming the college’s principal<ref>From 1748 to 1757.</ref> in October 7, 1748.<ref>Fordyce (1885), p. 21.</ref><ref>He became LL.D. in 1752. — See "Blackwell (Thomas)," in ''A New General Biographical Dictionary'', Vol. 4. B. Fellowes, 1853, p. 272.</ref> Blackwell was a well regarded professor and taught a number of important Enlightenment figures including Principal [[George Campbell (minister)|George Campbell]],<ref>Suderman, Jeffrey M. (2001). ''Orthodoxy and Enlightenment: George Campbell in the Eighteenth Century''. McGill-Queen's Press, p. 153.</ref> Robert Chambers, [[Alexander Gerard]],<ref>"As in learning and knowledge he was exquisite and equal to any, so in the address of a teacher he was perhaps superior to all. No man ever possessed, in a more eminent degree the talent of inspiring young minds with a love of learning; of begetting among them a generous emulation; and of forming them to a taste and perception of what was elegant and beautiful in the admired productions of antiquity." — Gerard, Alexander (1807). "A Character of Dr. Thomas Blackwell," in ''Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Honourable Henry Home of Kames'', by Alexander Fraser Tytler, Vol. I, Appendix No. VII. Edinburgh: William Creech, p. 49.</ref> and [[James Beattie (writer)|James Beattie]],<ref>Feldman, Burton (1972). "Thomas Blackwell, 1701–1757," in ''The Rise of Modern Mythology, 1680-1860''. Indiana University Press, p. 102.</ref> He strongly influenced [[James Macpherson]], the godfather as it were of [[Ossian]], [[James_BurnettJames Burnett,_Lord_Monboddo Lord Monboddo|Lord Monboddo]] and [[Adam Ferguson]].

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>Fordyce (1885), p. 23.</ref> 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.</ref>

Blackwell's works, including ''An Enquiry into the Life and Writings of [[Homer]]'' (1735),<ref>Parts of this book were translated into German by J.J. Bodmer in 1743, and into French by Quatremère de Roissy in 1801: ''Recherches sur Homère''.</ref> ''Letters Concerning [[Mythology]]'' (1748),<ref>Translated into French in 1779: ''Lettres sur la Mythologie''.</ref>, and ''Memoirs of the Court of [[Augustus]]'' (3 vols., 1753–63),<ref>Translated into French in 1757 by Feutry and again in 1799 by Quatremère de Roissy: ''Mémoires de la Cour d'Auguste''.</ref> established him as one of the premier figures in the [[Scottish Enlightenment]].

''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, Richard & Charles L. Briggs (2003). ''Voices of Modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality''. Cambridge University Press, p. 90.</ref> ([[Gibbon,_Edward 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_HerderJohann 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>

As the ''Letters Concerning Mythology'' were first published in 1748 there were nineteen letters in all, the first six by an anonymous hand. Blackwell was responsible for letters seven to nineteen. Their content was as bold and original as the book on Homer had been. Classical mythology had been discussed throughout the Christian era from a variety of unsympathetic standpoints: firstly by [[Euhemeristic]] critics who saw it as a fanciful form of history; next by Christian commentators who treated the classical gods as thinly-disguised [[demon]]s; and finally by modern rationalists who saw the system as ultimately irrational and meaningless. Blackwell took a radically different view. He saw mythology as a deeply civilising influence, which, if its allegorical intention were interpreted sympathetically, was an important key to the world-view of classical antiquity.

Ordinary people may have accepted the stories of the gods at face value, but the intelligentsia had regarded ‘the old Divinity’ as conveying profound insights into the nature of reality but doing so in symbolic terms,<ref>"The Gods of the Ancients, you see, appear in a double Light; as the Parts and Powers of Nature to the Philosophers, as real Persons to the Vulgar; the former understood and admired them with a decent Veneration; the latter dreaded and adored them with a blind Devotion," and he added, "Has not the same thing happened in modern religious Matters?" (8th Letter, p. 62f).</ref> and these Blackwell set himself to interpret, beginning in earnest with his Ninth Letter, of mythology as "Instruction conveyed in a Tale".<ref>Ninth Letter, p. 60.</ref> He drew on a wide range of evidence from a variety of sources including not only the literary myths in Greek and Latin and the [[Orphic Hymns]], but French, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew and Arabic<ref>Tenth Letter.</ref> texts, attempting to isolate the surviving original mythic strain from layers of later accretions.

In ''Memoirs of the Court of Augustus'' (3 vols., 1753–63), Blackwell approached his subject as a practitioner of intellectual history, calling it ‘This difficult Science of Men’. (p.&nbsp;5) He showed how individuals were defined by society, and went on to trace the causes of Rome's developing from an obscure hamlet into a great imperial power. Rome’s ethos had originally been austere and military and its original institutions democratic ones.

In a set of articles, published in 1897 by distinguished Brazilian scholar Tristão de Alencar Araripe Júnior,<ref>The first article was originally published in ''Revista do Brasil'', Ano I, No. 3, September 1897, pp. 73–76; the conclusion, in the following issue of the magazine, No. 4, 31 October 1897, pp. 94–98.</ref> Blackwell was credited with being a precursor of [[Hippolyte_TaineHippolyte Taine|Taine]]'s ideas concerning the contextual study of works of art.<ref>Araripe Júnior (1963). "Um Precursor de Taine," in ''Obra Crítica de Araripe Júnior'', Vol. III, 1895-1900. Rio de Janeiro: Ministério da Educação e Cultura/Casa de Rui Barbosa, pp. 249–256.</ref> "There was,... in the last century, a Scottish critic who innovatively applied to Homer the same processes of the master of modern criticism," Araripe Júnior wrote:

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 Encyclopaedia Britannica: climate is "a space upon the terrestrial globe." — 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 (1735), p. 5.</ref> greatly impressed and influenced [[Johann Gottfried Herder]],<ref>Norton (1991), p. 60.</ref>, and it's well known how [[Hippolyte_TaineHippolyte 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, 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.

* [[Charles_de_SecondatCharles de Secondat,_Baron_de_Montesquieu Baron de Montesquieu|Montesquieu]]

* [[Jean-Baptiste_DubosBaptiste Dubos|Jean-Baptiste DuBos]]

* (1753-551753–55, 1763). ''Memoirs of the Court of Augustus''.

* (1770). [https://archive.org/stream/archaeologiaormi01sociuoft#page/332/mode/2up Letter to J. Ames], ''Archæologia, or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity '', Vol. I, p. &nbsp;333.

* Coltharp, Duane (1995). "History and the Primitive: Homer, Blackwell, and the Scottish Enlightenment," ''Eighteenth-Century Life'' '''19''', pp. 57-69&nbsp;57–69

* Foerster, Donald Madison (1947). [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015020627520;view=1up;seq=38 "Thomas Blackwell,"] in ''Homer in English Criticism: The Historical Approach in the Eighteenth Century''. New Haven: Yale University Press, pp. &nbsp;26–40.

* Macmillan, Duncan (2004). "French Art and the Scottish Enlightenment," in ''Scotland and France in the Enlightenment''. Bucknell University Press, pp. &nbsp;128–160.

* Reill, Peter Hanns (1975). "Structure of Development and Appreciation of the Unique," in ''The German Enlightenment and the Rise of Historicism''. University of California Press, pp. &nbsp;190–212.

* Whitney, Lois (1926). "Thomas Blackwell, a Disciple of Shaftesbury," ''Philological Quarterly'' '''5''', pp. &nbsp;196–211.

| DATE OF BIRTH = 4 August 1701

| PLACE OF BIRTH = [[Aberdeen]]

| PLACE OF DEATH = [[Edinburgh]]