Is there such thing as a true paradigm shift in history? Can events take a new course radically independent of the past? Or is such a view a naive, idealised narrative that should be constrained to the great works of fiction? This is the polarising debate among Western academics with the romantic outlook supported by Hegel and popularised by Carlyle's 1841 lecture series On Heroes and Hero Worship losing ground in the second half of the …showed first 75 words of 2470 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2470 total…individuals. However, the question will still remain as to how far those individuals are shaped by the ebb and flow of the social situation around them. Bibligraphy Cook and Crone Hagarism Cambridge, 1977. Crone Meccan Trade and the rise of Islam Oxford, 1987. Gibb Pre-Islamic monotheism in Arabia Harvard Theological Review 55 (1962). Hodgson The Venture of Islam Chigao, 1974. Kister The Origin of a Term Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 31 (1968). Watt Muhammad at Mecca Oxford, 1953.