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0 pointskeiferski2y ago0 comments

The Great Man Theory is not primarily about scientific discoveries or inventions. It’s more about political figures: Napoleon, Muhammad, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_man_theory

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woodruffw2y ago· 2 in thread

Could you elaborate on why you think this? Individual forms of the GMT focus on heroism, religious charisma, etc., but the theory in the context of historical analysis is widely understood to apply to any form of “greatness,” with scientific advancements being one form.

Your own link to Wikipedia points this out, with Einstein as the example.

keiferskiOP2y ago

From Wikipedia:

> The theory is primarily attributed to the Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, who gave a series of lectures on heroism in 1840, later published as On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History.

From that series of lectures:

1. (5 May) The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology

2. (8 May) The Hero as Prophet. Mahomet: Islam

3. (12 May) The Hero as Poet. Dante; Shakspeare

4. (15 May) The Hero as Priest. Luther; Reformation: Knox; Puritanism

5. (19 May) The Hero as Man of Letters. Johnson, Rousseau, Burns

6. (22 May) The Hero as King. Cromwell. Napoleon: Modern Revolutionism

Are any of those people scientists?

Carlyle is talking about political and cultural influence, not technological development. Using scientists that made great discoveries as a counter-example to the theory is a straw man argument.

woodruffw2y ago

Carlyle is the progenitor of GMT; making him the ultimate authority on how GMT is applied as a historical analysis is a bit like making Newtown the ultimate authority on gravity.

And note: the fixation on science as a category isn’t coherent from Carlyle’s 18th century perspective.

(But how does any of this make the original post a straw man? You can replace the figures in it with Mohammed and Shakespeare without meaningfully altering the claim.)

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