R. G. Collingwood (1889–1943)
Some time after graduating from college in 1987, I saw my high-school art teacher, who lent me his copy of Collingwood's book The Principles of Art. I read this with fascination and ordered my own copy.
Around 2000, I transcribed a passage from the Principles; in 2003, during a re-reading, I made some notes on the book.
Collingwood sounds right to me as I read, but I have had trouble trying to state his positions plausibly to others. Even for myself, I am not sure what Collingwood has accomplished. Nonetheless, I have gone on to read with pleasure his
- Autobiography
- Idea of History
- Essay on Metaphysics
- New Leviathan (a passage from this)
The Principles of Art shows Collingwood's enthusiasm for T.S. Eliot. It seems that Eliot was Collingwood's student, since among Eliot's papers in the Harvard College Library are notes from a lecture by Collingwood on Aristotle's De Anima. The men were born in consecutive years, Eliot first. I have the idea that the two thinkers illuminate each other.
At McMaster I read a library copy of Collingwood's Autobiography and was most provoked by his logic of question and answer.
I bought Collingwood's book The Idea of History in an Ankara bookshop, read most of it, and found myself in sympathy. Collingwood's student edited the text with the view that Collingwood's last thinking was not his best. Since in his last years Collingwood bitterly opposed the British government's support of fascist Spain (as he says in the Autobiography), I worry about the tendencies of that student.
I was once excited to find that many (or all) of Collingwood's books were on line at Questia; then I learned about the monthly fees.
I haven't found much else about Collingwood on line. A directory of philosophers once had a link to a “Collingwood network”; but the link was dead, and I could not otherwise find the network. Now that link is gone; but there is a link to an article on Collingwood, the Philosopher of the Month of February, 2004, in The Philosopher's Magazine.
