An Autobiography eBook R G Collingwood
Download As PDF : An Autobiography eBook R G Collingwood 
This early work by Robin G. Collingwood was originally published in 1939 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'An Autobiography' is the story of Collingwood's personal and academic life. Robin George Collingwood was born on 22nd February 1889, in Cartmel, England. He was the son of author, artist, and academic, W. G. Collingwood. He was greatly influenced by the Italian Idealists Croce, Gentile, and Guido de Ruggiero. Another important influence was his father, a professor of fine art and a student of Ruskin. He published many works of philosophy, such as Speculum Mentis (1924), An Essay on Philosophic Method (1933), and An Essay on Metaphysics (1940).
An Autobiography eBook R G Collingwood
Collingwood, in the spectrum of philosophers, occupies a position subjacent to the "big names," such as Russell, Moore, Quine and the others, however, the more I study his writing, the more I come to feel that he has a thoughtful and useful approach to the problems of philosophy. This read is quite personal and useful as an introduction to his other work which ranges from art, through history (well discussed here), metaphysics, and more.Product details
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An Autobiography eBook R G Collingwood Reviews
Robin George Collingwood (1889-1943) was an English philosopher and historian, whose most famous books are The Idea of History With Lectures 1926-1928 and An Essay on Metaphysics. He says in the Preface to this 1939 book, "The autobiography of a man whose business is thinking should be the story of his thought. I have written this book to tell what I think worth telling about the story of mine... I have written candidly, at times disapprovingly, about men whom I admire and love. If any of these should resent what I have written... my rule in writing books is ... that naming any one personally known to me is my way of thanking him for what I owe to his friendship, or his teaching, or his example."
He criticizes the Logical Positivists "I think that this school, with all its ingenuity and pertinacity, is only building card-houses out of a pack of lies." (Pg. 52) After his experiences with weekly meetings of the Oxford Philosophical Society, he concluded, "I must do my own work by myself, and not expect my colleagues in the philosophical profession to give me any help." (Pg. 54-55)
He explains, "My life's work hitherto... has been in the main an attempt to bring about a rapprochment between philosophy and history." (Pg. 77) He adds, "The chief business of twentieth-century philosophy is to reckon with twentieth-century history." (Pg. 79) He recalls, "By about 1920 this was my first principle of a philosophy of history that the past which an historian studies is not a dead past, but a past which in some sense is still living in the present." (Pg. 97)
Later, he observes, "I expressed this new conception of history in the phrase, 'all history is the history of thought.'... And there is nothing else except thought that can be the object of historical knowledge." (Pg. 110) He adds, "This gave me a second proposition 'historical knowledge is the re-enactment in the historian's mind of the thought whose history he is studying.'" (Pg. 112) He elaborates, "If what the historian knows is past thoughts, and if he knows them by re-thinking them himself, it follows that the knowledge he achieves by historical inquiry is not knowledge of his situation... it is a knowledge of his situation which is at the same time knowledge of himself. In re-thinking what somebody else thought, he thinks it himself... He must be, in fact, a microcosm of all the history he can know. Thus his own self-knowledge is at the same time his knowledge of the world of human affairs... The answer was now clear and certain. The science of human affairs was history." (Pg. 114-115)
Collingwood's book is of interest to philosophers, of course, but of particular interest to students of the philosophy of history.
Leo Strauss, in 1965, thought R.G. Collingwood "the clearest representative of historicism in the English tongue" and in particular recommended reading paragraphs from chapters V-IX of his "An Autobiography." Historicism (primary among other meanings) is the view that all thought is historically determined or limited and cannot escape its time and place.
If coupled with A.J.Ayer's "Language, Truth and Logic" on positivism (one meaning of which is that value judgements are irrational) one has an introduction to historicism and positivism in the English tongue in the 20th century.
Ayer and Collingwood wrote these books and taught in the pre-war Oxford of the 1930's. One view of England at this time can be seen in Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited", both the book and the excellent mini-series with Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews.
Collingwood needs no introduction, but this little known book does. It is short, concise, vigorous, and precious. I venture to say that for the historiographer who is interested in a clear stating of the humanistic approach to history and the truths that that can reveal OUTSIDE of science, this book is even more valuable than the seminal "The Idea of History", which is so widely read and known.
I will not enter here in a synopsis of the debate in the philosophy of history that has become increasingly polarized--and confused--as the twentieth century has drawn to a close; but I will say that anyone interested in the topic must read this book.
Collingwood, in the spectrum of philosophers, occupies a position subjacent to the "big names," such as Russell, Moore, Quine and the others, however, the more I study his writing, the more I come to feel that he has a thoughtful and useful approach to the problems of philosophy. This read is quite personal and useful as an introduction to his other work which ranges from art, through history (well discussed here), metaphysics, and more.
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