Het samentreffen van Romantiek en Industriële Revolutie. De arbeidsfilosofie van Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Samenvatting

In the early 1800s England was involved in a relatively fast transition from an agricultural society to an industrial nation state. This transition induced reflection on central themes for a nascent industrial nation, eg, work & technology. Discussed is Thomas Carlyle's position as a representative of the English Romantic movement in the ideological confrontation of romanticism with the spirit of the eighteenth century, its empiricism & unrelenting utilitarianism. Carlyle spoke of a new religion of work, a complex mixture of secularized Calvinism & romantic inspiration. Further attention is paid to the relation of this religion of work to Carlyle's typically romantic hero-cult & to the sometimes surprisingly progressive socioeconomic aspects of his conservative stance. Modified HA.