ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights the role that rightful functioning of mind by historians plays in a rightfully functioning state. It marks the start of an unravelling of the uncomplicated equation of early modern European wonder with the possession of others. Wonder facilitates self-understanding and control and good government; curiosity signals a loss of self-control and that signals the end of society. Early-modern historiography continued ancient Greek traditions of looking to the past to discern universals and doing so through rigorous sense perception. A relatively small body of research on Jean Bodin's views on history celebrates what Peter Gay describes as his 'critical rationalism'. Method is a very appealing work to us by dint of the proximity of Bodin's views to the work practises of many present-day historians. Bodin was confident that many historians could contribute to the revelation of the universal in an orderly and comprehensive way, and that their efforts could make sense to readers.
