Collingwood, Robin George

Related Category: Philosophy: Biographies

1889–1943, English philosopher and historian. From 1908 he was associated with Oxford as student, fellow, lecturer in history, and professor of philosophy. Collingwood believed that philosophy should be rooted in history rather than in formal science, and he attempted to correlate creative endeavor with historical experience rather than to sensation. He was also significant as a historian. In Roman Britain (1936) and in some 150 monographs he brilliantly reconstructed that ancient era from his study of coins and inscriptions. For his philosophical thought, see Speculum Mentis (1924), An Essay on Philosophic Method (1933), Principles of Art (1938), and The Idea of History (1946).

See studies by A. Donagan (1962, repr. 1986), M. Kraus, ed. (1972), and L. O. Mink (1987).