History as Re-enactment: R. G. Collingwood's Idea of History - Hardcover

Dray, William H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019824293X ISBN 13: 9780198242932

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1995

Synopsis

A central motif of R G Collingwood's philosophy of history is the idea that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. However, there have been sharp disagreements about the acceptability of this idea, and even its meaning. This book aims to advance the critical discussion in three ways: by analysing the idea itself further, concentrating especially upon the contrast which Collingwood drew between it and scientific understanding; by exploring the limits of its applicability to what historians ordinarily consider their proper subject matter; and by clarifying the relationship between it and some other key Collingwoodian ideas, such as the place of imagination in historical judgement, and the importance of narrative and periodization in historical thinking. Professor Dray defendes Collingwood against a good deal of recent critism, while pointing ways in which his position requires revision or development.

History as Re-enactment draws upon a wide range of Collingwood's published writings, and makes considerable use of his unpublished manuscripts. It is the most systematic study yet of this central doctrine of Collingwood's philosophy of history, and will stand as a landmark in Collingwood studies.

About this title

About the Author

William H. Dray has been Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Ottawa, Canada.

From the Back Cover

A central motif of R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history is the idea that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. However, there have been sharp disagreements about the acceptability of this idea, and even its meaning. This book aims to advance the critical discussion in three ways: by analysing the idea itself further, concentrating especially upon the contrast which Collingwood drew between it and scientific understanding; by exploring the limits of its applicability to what historians ordinarily consider their proper subject-matter; and by clarifying the relationship between it and some other key Collingwoodian ideas, such as the place of imagination in historical inquiry, the sense in which history deals with the individual, the essential perspectivity of historical judgement, and the importance of narrative and periodization in historical thinking. Professor Dray defends Collingwood against a good deal of recent criticism, while pointing to ways in which his position requires revision or development. History as Re-enactment draws upon a wide range of Collingwood's published writings, and makes considerable use of his unpublished manuscripts. It is the most systematic study yet of this central doctrine of Collingwood's philosophy of history, and will stand as a landmark in Collingwood studies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019824293X
• ISBN 13: 9780198242932
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 360