History Man
The Life of R. G. Collingwood
Published on 26. July 2009
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-691-13014-9 (ISBN)
Description
This is the first biography of the last and greatest British idealist philosopher, R. G. Collingwood (1889-1943), a man who both thought and lived at full pitch. Best known today for his philosophies of history and art, Collingwood was also a historian, archaeologist, sailor, artist, and musician. A figure of enormous energy and ambition, he took as his subject nothing less than the whole of human endeavor, and he lived in the same way, seeking to experience the complete range of human passion. In this vivid and swiftly paced narrative, Fred Inglis tells the dramatic story of a remarkable life, from Collingwood's happy Lakeland childhood to his successes at Oxford, his archaeological digs as a renowned authority on Roman Britain, his solo sailing adventures in the English Channel, his long struggle with illness, and his sometimes turbulent romantic life. In a manner unheard of today, Collingwood attempted to gather all aspects of human thought into a single theory of practical experience, and he wrote sweeping accounts of history, art, science, politics, metaphysics, and archaeology, as well as a highly regarded autobiography.
Above all, he dedicated his life to arguing that history - not science - is the only source of moral and political wisdom and self-knowledge. Linking the intellectual and personal sides of Collingwood's life, and providing a rich history of his milieu, "History Man" also assesses Collingwood's influence on generations of scholars after his death and the renewed recognition of his importance and interest today.
Above all, he dedicated his life to arguing that history - not science - is the only source of moral and political wisdom and self-knowledge. Linking the intellectual and personal sides of Collingwood's life, and providing a rich history of his milieu, "History Man" also assesses Collingwood's influence on generations of scholars after his death and the renewed recognition of his importance and interest today.
Reviews / Votes
Inglis gives us a clear line of development from the thought of Vico and Croce to the philosophy of the later years with its crowning achievement in recognizing the need to historicize ideas rather than treat them as algebraic constraints. The story is enriched with an often riveting account of Collingwood's psychological difficulties and of his final challenge to posterity in his affair with Kathleen Edwardes and decision to become a father again as death beckoned. -- Michael Bentley, Times Literary Supplement A warm-hearted, affectionate biography of an irascible but brilliant philosopher and historian... By placing Collingwood in his context, Fred Inglis does much to rectify the slightly paranoid portrait of [Collingwood's] autobiography. Even if Collingwood was not the jovial, beer-drinking common man that Inglis would have liked him to be, it is good to see him brought some way back to the human fold. -- Simon Blackburn, New Republic Vividly written biography... Inglis's great achievement in this book is to apply the question-and-answer method to Collingwood's biography, the 'interpreted life' being no more susceptible to instant appraisal than the interpreted text. -- Jonathan Derbyshire, Literary Review It is a strange fact that until the recent appearance of History Man: The Life of R. G. Collingwood, the world had no 'life' of the greatest philosopher of history writing in English, nor England's leading 20th-century philosopher of art, and no apparent attempt at one... Fred Inglis' biography is a courageous act of cultural and intellectual re-contextualisation that should be applauded... The prose moves with fluid ease, and the book is intensely readable, with much to reward non-philosophers and non-Collingwoodians interested in the educational, social and political history of the era. -- Philip Smallwood, Times Higher Education Collingwood's life is a full, fascinating and complicated story that needs to be told, and Fred Inglis tells it as an avowed partisan, an admirer who desires to breathe new life into our understanding of Collingwood... The picture is vivid, lively and colorful. -- James Connelly, Philosophers' MagazineMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
16 halftones.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
680 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-13014-9 (9780691130149)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
07/2011
Princeton University Press
€31.80
Shipment within 10-20 days
Additional editions
Book
07/2011
Princeton University Press
€31.80
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Fred Inglis is the author of more than twenty books, including "People's Witness: The Journalist in Modern Politics" and "The Cruel Peace: Everyday Life and the Cold War" (Basic). He is professor emeritus of cultural studies at the University of Sheffield.
Content
Preface ix Chapter 1: By Coniston Water 1 Chapter 2: Brought Up by Hand: The Moral Point of English Public Schools 34 Chapter 3: Oxford and the Admiralty: The Science of Human Affairs; God and the Devil 63 Chapter 4: Against the Realists: Liberalism and the Italians 101 Chapter 5: On Hadrian's Wall: "Question-and-Answer logic" 139 Illustrations, following page 166 Chapter 6: The Idea of the Ideas: The New Science 180 Chapter 7: "Fighting in the Daylight": Metaphysics against Fascism 210 Chapter 8: The Valley of the Shadows: Java, Oxford, Greece 247 Chapter 9: The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage: On Barbarism and Civilisation 288 Chapter 10: The Time of the Preacher: Collingwood's Resurrection 314 Abbreviations 349 Notes 351 Index 377