R. G. Collingwood facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
R. G. Collingwood
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Robin George Collingwood
22 February 1889 |
| Died | 9 January 1943 (aged 53) Coniston, Lancashire, England
|
| Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
|
Notable work
|
The Principles of Art (1938) The Idea of History (1946) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | British idealism Historism |
| Institutions | Pembroke College, Oxford |
|
Main interests
|
Metaphysics Philosophy of history Aesthetics |
|
Notable ideas
|
Historical imagination Coining the English term historicism Aesthetic expressivism |
|
Influences
|
|
Robin George Collingwood (born February 22, 1889 – died January 9, 1943) was an important English thinker. He was a philosopher, a historian, and an archaeologist. He is most famous for his books about philosophy, especially The Principles of Art (1938) and The Idea of History (1946), which was published after he died.
Contents
About Robin George Collingwood
Robin George Collingwood was born in 1889 in Cartmel, England. His father, W.G. Collingwood, was an artist and archaeologist. He also worked as a private secretary for the famous writer John Ruskin. Robin's mother was also an artist and a talented musician.
Robin went to Rugby School and then to University College, Oxford. He studied Greek, Latin, ancient history, and philosophy. He did very well in his studies. Even before he graduated, he became a fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford.
Collingwood taught at Pembroke College for about 15 years. Later, he became a professor of philosophy at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was taught by Francis J. Haverfield, a historian and archaeologist. Important thinkers who influenced Collingwood included Benedetto Croce and Immanuel Kant.
Sadly, Collingwood suffered from several strokes. He died in Coniston, England, in 1943. He was a religious person and a member of the Anglican Church his whole life.
Collingwood's Ideas
Understanding History
Collingwood is well-known for his book The Idea of History (1946). This book was put together from his notes after he passed away. It became a very important book for people studying the philosophy of history in English-speaking countries.
Collingwood believed history is a type of science. He said a science is "any organized body of knowledge." But he also said history is different from natural sciences. Natural sciences study the physical world. History, however, studies human actions and thoughts.
He explained that we can observe things in the present or in nature directly. But we cannot directly see the thoughts of people from the past. We also cannot directly watch past events happen. So, historians must use different methods.
Collingwood thought that history is about understanding the human mind. He famously said, "All history is the history of thought." This means historians need to figure out what people in the past were thinking and why they did what they did.
To do this, Collingwood suggested historians use "historical imagination." They should "reconstruct" history by "re-enacting" the thought processes of people from the past. They do this by using information and evidence from historical sources. "Re-enactment" means a historian can actually understand the same thought a historical person had.
Collingwood believed that a thought is a single thing that anyone can access. If two people have the same thought, it's still one thought. So, if historians ask the right questions and think correctly, they can arrive at the same thoughts as the people who created their sources.
He disagreed with what he called "scissors-and-paste history." This is when a historian just cuts out parts of old stories they don't believe. Collingwood argued that even if an old story seems strange, it was still created by a person with a reason. Historians should investigate these sources to understand why they were made and what they tell us about the past.
Thinking About Art
Collingwood's book The Principles of Art (1938) talks a lot about art. He believed that works of art are mainly ways to express emotions. He thought artists have an important role in society. They help to make clear and express the feelings of their community.
Collingwood's ideas about art are sometimes called "aesthetic expressivism." This idea suggests that art is about expressing feelings.
Political Ideas
In his book An Autobiography, Collingwood said his political views were always "democratic" and "liberal." He believed that socialism had helped liberalism by showing the problems with too much freedom in the economy.
Collingwood as an Archaeologist
Collingwood was not just a philosopher; he was also an active historian and archaeologist. He was a leading expert on Roman Britain. During his teaching terms at Oxford, he taught philosophy. But during his long breaks, he focused on archaeology.
He started his archaeological work along Hadrian's Wall. His family lived in Coniston, in the Lake District. His father was a key person in the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Society. Collingwood joined many excavations. He suggested that Hadrian's Wall was more of an elevated guard walk than just a fighting platform. He also thought that Hadrian's defense system included forts along the Cumberland coast.
He was very involved in the 1930 Wall Pilgrimage, where he updated a famous guide book called Bruce's Handbook.
One of his last and most debated excavations was in 1937. It was at a circular ditch near Penrith called King Arthur's Round Table. This site seemed to be a Neolithic monument. Collingwood's digs didn't find clear proof of Neolithic activity. But he did find the bases of two stone pillars, a possible cremation trench, and some post holes. Sadly, he became ill and couldn't finish the work. Another archaeologist, Gerhard Bersu, took over and questioned some of Collingwood's findings. However, more recently, Grace Simpson has defended Collingwood's work as an excavator.
Collingwood also started a huge project for his archaeological career. He began to collect and draw nearly 900 Roman Inscriptions of Britain. This meant traveling all over Britain to see the inscriptions. His student, R. P. Wright, finally published this work in 1965.
He also wrote two major archaeological books. The first was The Archaeology of Roman Britain. This book covered archaeological sites like fortresses, towns, and temples. It also discussed inscriptions, coins, pottery, and brooches.
His most important archaeological work was his part in the first volume of the Oxford History of England. This book was called Roman Britain and the English Settlements. Collingwood wrote most of it. This book was groundbreaking because it told the story of Roman Britain using archaeological finds, not just historical records. He put his idea of "Question and Answer" archaeology into practice.
Collingwood's most important idea for British archaeology was "Question and Answer archaeology." This means that excavations should only happen if there is a specific question to be answered. This idea has become very important in archaeology today. He is seen as an early supporter of archaeological theory.
Other Writings
Besides his work in archaeology and philosophy, Collingwood also wrote a travel book. It was called The First Mate's Log of a Voyage to Greece (1940). This book described a sailing trip he took in the Mediterranean Sea with some of his students.
The famous children's author Arthur Ransome was a friend of Collingwood's family. Ransome learned to sail in their boat. He later taught Collingwood's nieces and nephews to sail. Ransome loosely based the characters called the Swallows in his Swallows and Amazons series on these children.
Main Books and Articles
Published During His Lifetime
- Religion and Philosophy (1916)
- Roman Britain (1923; 2nd ed., 1932)
- Speculum Mentis; or The Map of Knowledge (1924)
- Outlines of a Philosophy of Art (1925)
- The Archaeology of Roman Britain (1930)
- An Essay on Philosophical Method (1933)
- Roman Britain and the English Settlements (with J. N. L. Myres, 1936)
- The Principles of Art (1938)
- An Autobiography (1939)
- The First Mate's Log (1940)
- An Essay on Metaphysics (1940)
- The New Leviathan (1942)
Published After His Death
- The Idea of Nature (1945)
- The Idea of History (1946)
- Essays in the Philosophy of Art (1964)
- Essays in the Philosophy of History (1965)
- Essays in Political Philosophy (with David Boucher) (1989)
- The Principles of History and Other Writings in Philosophy of History (2001)
- The Philosophy of Enchantment: Studies in Folktale, Cultural Criticism, and Anthropology (2005)
See also
In Spanish: Robin George Collingwood para niños
