R. G. Collingwood

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Robin George Collingwood (February 22, 1889 - January 9, 1943), British philosopher and historian and son of W. G. Collingwood. Collingwood was a latter day idealist (though he disliked the label), a Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He was the only pupil of F. J. Haverfield to survive World War I. Important influences were the Italian Idealists of the time, Croce, Gentile and de Ruggiero, the last of whom in particular was a close friend as well. Other important influences were Kant, Vico, F. H. Bradley, J. A. Smith, and Ruskin, who was a mentor to his father W. G. Collingwood, professor of fine arts at Reading University, also an important influence.

Collingwood is most famous for The Idea of History, a work collated soon after his death from various sources by his pupil, T. M. Knox. The book came to be a major inspiration for postwar analytic philosophy of history in the English-speaking world. He is extensively cited in works of historiography. Someone remarked that Collingwood was one of the century's best-known "neglected" thinkers.

In aesthetics Collingwood argued that language and art are identical. His principle contribution is The Principles of Art. In arguing for the identity of art and language he followed Croce. He portrayed art as a necessary function of the human mind, and considered it collaborative, i.e., a collective and social activity. In politics Collingwood was a liberal (in a British, centrist sense), ready to defend an over-idealised image of nineteenth-century liberal practice.

Collingwood was a serious historian and archaeologist of Roman Britain, a leading authority on the subject. In Oxford he refused to specialize in either of the two areas of philosophy or history, taking an honours degree in both areas. His philosophy of history was completely integrated as part of his actual historical work, and his classic "Roman Britain" is very instructive when read as an example of his philosophy of history.

He also published "The First Mate's Log" (1940), an account of a Mediterranean yachting voyage in the company of several of his students.

R.G. Collingwood was born at Coniston in Cumbria, and educated at Rugby School and the University of Oxford.

Main works published in his lifetime

• Religion and Philosophy (1916) ISBN 1855063174
• Roman Britain (1923, ed. 2, 1932) ISBN 0819611603
• Speculum Mentis (1924)
• Outlines of a Philosophy of Art (1925)
• The Archaeology of Roman Britain (1930)
• An Essay on Philosophic Method (1933, rev. ed. 2005). ISBN 1855063921
• Roman Britain and the English Settlements (with J. N. L. Myres, 1936, second edition 1937)
• The Principles of Art (1938) ISBN 0195002091
• An Autobiography (1939) ISBN 0198246943
• An Essay on Metaphysics (1940, revised edition 1998). ISBN 0819133159
• The New Leviathan (1942, rev. ed. 1992)ISBN 0198238800

Posthumously-published works

• The Idea of Nature (1945) ISBN 0195002172
• The Idea of History (1946, revised edition 1993). ISBN 0192853066
• Essays in the Philosophy of Art (1964)
• Essays in the Philosophy of History (1965) ISBN 0824063554
• Essays in Political Philosophy (1989) ISBN 0198235666
• The Principles of History and Other Writings in Philosophy of History (2001) ISBN 0199243158
• The Philosophy of Enchantment: Studies in Folktale, Cultural Criticism, and Anthropology (2005) ISBN 0199262535

All 'revised' editions comprise the original text together with a new editorial introduction and extensive additional manuscript material.

For additional articles and documents by R. G. Collingwood:

http://www.geocities.com/rgcollingwood

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