John Whitaker : a representative of Tory discourse in eighteenth-century Britain

Abstract

ln terms of historiography, eighteenth century can be deseribed as a cmcial period in the history of Britain. However, it should be noted that, due to ideological reasons influencing histoncal research, this era of British history is observed only partially until recent decades. The main co n cem of this thesis is to evaluate the works of an eighteenth century British historian, John Whitaker, who was a significant representative of Tory discourse, neglected to a great extent in British history writing. As secondary themes, the influence of the "Whig Interpretation of History" on eighteenth century studies, similarities and differences between Tory and Enlightenment historians are discussed. Also, on the basis of John Whitaker's writings, a special effort is made to observe some major problems of historiography, including anachronism, ethnocentrism, "history of the victors", epistemologicallimitations and "history of greatmen."