Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte

work by Whately

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Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

Richard Whately's Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte (1819) is a work of satire that critiques the application of logic to historical evidence, particularly concerning the Bible. Whately uses the same methods that some employed to question biblical miracles to cast doubt on the very existence of Napoleon Bonaparte.1

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Corsica in 1769 and was educated in France, influenced by the Enlightenment. He pursued a military career and became a significant figure during the French Revolution. Whately's work, therefore, uses a prominent historical figure to make a point about historical and logical reasoning.21

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Richard Whately
…Oxford, he wrote his satiric Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte (1819), in which he attacked the stringent application of logic to the Bible by showing that the same methods used to cast doubt on the miracles would also leave the existence of Napoleon open to question.
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…Oxford, he wrote his satiric Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Bonaparte (1819), in which he attacked the stringent application of logic to the Bible by showing that the same methods used to cast doubt on the miracles would also leave the existence of Napoleon open to question.
Read More