Thomas Carlyle
Sergio Caredda
Carlyle, T. (1869). On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History. Chapman and Hall.
Description:
The Great man Theory has been established during the 19th century by historian Thomas Carlyle, who crystallised a view by which “prominent leaders throughout the course of history were born to lead and deserved to do so as a result of their natural abilities and talents.”
As a historian Carlyle developed a Heroic view of history, where the major milestones in historical development were linked to great men and their actions. This approach stayed alive for many years, up to the Second World War, also thanks to the contribution of other thinkers from disparate fields of human thought (Freud and Nietzsche just to cite two). And the consequences of this thinking are still evident today. In many ways, many people still believe that “great leaders are born, not made“, a sentence that crystallises this view. This despite all the evidences that the Great Man Theory completely ignores the influence of the context.
