cal outlook can greatly affect politics and international
relations.
Further Reading
Gentile, Giovanni. The Philosophy of Art,transl. with an intro.
by Giovanni Gullace. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1972.
Gibbon, Edward (1737–1794) English histo-
rian of the Roman Empire
Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
remains the classic study of the end of the Latin world
and beginning of the European MIDDLE AGES. Besides
the breadth of this seven-volume work (employing
many original Roman documents and contemporary
scholarship), Gibbon’s analysis reflects CLASSICAL
REPUBLICAN presuppositions of the moral decadence
and political decay of the Roman Empire. He also
explains the reasons for CHRISTIANITY’s survival in the
midst of the Empire’s collapse. The early church, Gib-
bon insists, survived and expanded because of (1) the
principled zeal of its faithful, (2) its doctrine of a
future life in heaven won by Christ, (3) the impressive
miracles and spiritual power of the early church, (4)
the pure morals and lifestyle of its members, and (5)
the discipline early Christians imposed on their com-
munity.
Gibbon’s fame as a historian caused him to move in
the high society and literary circles of 18th-century
London. Although vain and pompous personally, his
doctrines were inherently critical of British wealth,
power, and prestige. Imperial luxury and lax morals
could lead to the “decline and fall” of the British
Empire as easily as they did the Roman Empire, so
Gibbon’s historiography began a tradition of treating
past civilizations in such a way as to warn and reform
current society. His exposure of the military and politi-
cal disasters attending the decline of social morality
and discipline in Rome served to warn MODERNculture
about the dangers of moral decline, economic self-
indulgence, political TYRANNY, and excessive luxury
and pride. If the mighty 1,000-year Roman Empire
could fall, any powerful, self-confident civilization
could end.
Further Reading
Braudy, Leo. Narrative Form in History and Fiction:Hume, Field-
ing & Gibbon. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1970.
Gierke, Otto Friedrich von (1841–1921)
German legal philosopher
Otto Friedrich von Gierke was a prominent legal
scholar and leader of the Germanist school of jurispru-
dence. He was one of the foremost opponents of the
Romanist school of German law. A staunch German
nationalist, von Gierke became an advocate for
national unity in his later years.
Von Gierke has a long and distinguished academic
career and taught at a variety of prestigious universi-
ties. He served as a professor at Breslau (1871–84), Hei-
delberg (1884–87), and, finally, Berlin (1887–1921).
Early in his career, von Gierke earned a reputation as a
legal historian.
Initially, von Gierke promoted a decentralized and
pluralistic society. He asserted that the ideal state
would be a combination of Genossenschaften(coopera-
tive associations) and Herrschaften(groups that were
subordinated to an individual imperious will). Hence,
it would be a blend of autocracy and democracy and,
on a theoretical level, a rejection of methodological
individualism. Von Gierke believed that the formation
of the German Empire in 1871 marked a close synthe-
sis of this concept. He had a profound impact on his
pupil, Hugo Preuss, who was instrumental in drafting
the constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919.
In 1888, when the first draft of Germany’s civil law
code was promulgated, von Gierke roundly criticized
the effort. Following German unification in 1871,
efforts to codify German law intensified. The legal sys-
tem up to that time was based on both Roman law and
customary German law, based primarily on tribal law.
Although Roman law had been dramatically modified
through the centuries, it was accepted that customary,
or common, law still prevailed in areas of conflict.
Individual states of Germany, including Bavaria and
Prussia, already had codified their civil law, and some
regions, such as Alsace and Westphalia, retained ele-
ments of the Napoleonic Code.
Von Gierke supported the effort for legal codification
and would later cite the formation of the Reich, or
empire, under Otto von Bismarck as the foundation for
legal reform. He opposed the first civil code, however,
on the basis that it relied too heavily on Roman law. Von
Gierke emerged as one of the leaders of the historical
jurisprudence school that opposed the so-called Roman-
ist school; eventually, the code was revised and many of
the Roman elements were removed. A new proposal was
issued in 1896 and went into effect in 1900. Von122 Gibbon, Edward