History Man: The Life of R. G. Collingwood by Fred Inglis (PDF)

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.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “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’ Magazine Review “Fred Inglis’s lively and interesting biography shows the extent and interest of Collingwood’s contribution to the twentieth century and beyond. There is no other book comparable in biographical scope and detail. This is a welcome addition.”―James Connelly, University of Hull”Fred Inglis is an experienced biographer with a refreshing style, and here he has brought his skills to bear on the eventful life and original thought of R. G. Collingwood. This imaginative biography gives an engaging portrait and interpretation of the man.”―David Boucher, Cardiff University From the Back Cover “Fred Inglis’s lively and interesting biography shows the extent and interest of Collingwood’s contribution to the twentieth century and beyond. There is no other book comparable in biographical scope and detail. This is a welcome addition.”–James Connelly, University of Hull”Fred Inglis is an experienced biographer with a refreshing style, and here he has brought his skills to bear on the eventful life and original thought of R. G. Collingwood. This imaginative biography gives an engaging portrait and interpretation of the man.”–David Boucher, Cardiff University About the Author 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. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Inglis, a fellow Brit academic with a wide array of interests and publications, proves himself an excellent biographer of the elusive figure of R.G. Collingwood. As befits Collingwood, Inglis eschews a cut-and-paste biography, opting instead to comment upon Collingwood’s work, thought, and intellectual progeny in addition to recounting the events of his life. The outline of Collingwood’s life is relatively simple, although his youth already raises possibilities. His parents were disciples of their Lake District neighbor, John Ruskin. Collingwood grew up with a musician mother and an artist father who pursued archaeology, writing, and folklore. As a youth, Collingwood was off to Rugby school and then Oxford. Following the tradition of the time, he was immersed in the classics of Greece and Rome and the Western tradition as a whole. He graduated before the outbreak of the War, and (happily for him and us), he served in Naval Intelligence in London rather than in the trenches. After the War, he returned to Oxford and served as a professor of philosophy. He remained (broadly speaking) within the British idealist tradition, seemingly out of step with the likes of Russell, Wittgenstein (at least of the Tractatus), Ayer, and the logical positivists. Despite his relative isolation, and his devotion to archeology—he was active in excavating Roman ruins in Britain and elsewhere—he received an endowed chair at Oxford in the early 30s.While at the peak of his powers, Collingwood began suffering severe health problems caused foremost by uncontrolled high blood pressure. He became aware that he’d not lead a long life. This, along with the unfolding events in Europe (Nazism, Fascism, and Communism), and a breakdown of his marriage, led him to become as a man possessed, going on a writing and publishing frenzy before his death in January 1943. Alas, he was not able to bring his greatest work (or certainly most influential) work to publication, The Idea of History, but it did get published in 1946. It was but one part of his large output in the last decade of his life.Inglis takes us through these events, almost making the transformation of the man appear before our very eyes. In the early years, Collingwood comes across as unexceptional, almost bland. But then he brings forth a torrent of unique and invaluable thoughts on history, art, and Nature, as well as on current events. One of my few complaints is that Inglis, probably from a lack of access to more personal sources, doesn’t delve deeply into the breakdown of his first marriage and subsequent marriage and fatherhood (again) on what was, as he knew, very near his deathbed. I can’t help but wonder about this, not as a matter of prurient interest, but as to how a man of deep and profound thought (his chair was in moral philosophy) thought (or didn’t) through these issues. But this is a minor issue because Inglis does more than justice to Collingwood’s professional life and publications.For anyone interested in or wondering about Collingwood, I can’t imagine a better place to start. Collingwood isn’t a rock star of philosophy like Russell, Wittgenstein, or Ayer, to name but three fellow British academics, but his influence, especially in the realm of history, has been significant indeed. Inglis explores his influence on Charles Taylor, Peter Winch, Quentin Skinner, and Alastair McIntyre, among others. (I’d add Owen Barfield and John Lukacs). In doing so, Inglis provides a running commentary not only on Collingwood but also in his thought’s relation to the world around us that I appreciated and enjoyed very much.

⭐I knew this book was more than just a biography when I said to myself, half-way through or so, I must read this book again. I usually don’t want to re-read biographies regardless of how good they are. So what is this book and why do I want to read it again? First, it is a biography of R.G. Collingwood, one of the most interesting British philosophers of the last century. Most American philosophers know of him, at leaast that he was an Idealist of the British sort (which is only a little better than those of the German sort, I suppose they would say). This narrative of Collingwood’s life makes it a valuable book.But what makes it a great book is the argument between the narrative lines. in those spaces the author presents the life of Collingwood to the reader as a challenge to his own philosophical position. We read of Collingwood’s attacks on the Realists, Positivists, etc. and we, the readers, are not meant to take this as an idle intellectual tale from a bygone age. How the Past is present in the Now, i.e., how the Now has the capacity, at least the potential, – if our educational system and popular culture do not ruin us, to transform what has been spoken/written and what has unfolded into a iiving, meaningful dialogue with the present. Collingwood wanted to teach us the importance of having the eyes, ears, not to mention mind, to facilitate such a transformation (less we become Positivists or Realists: both to whom the deeper aspect of history is a closed door): without such a capacity we inch closer to the abyss (excuse the hyperbole). This is why it is important for me to re-read this book.One last comment. The final section of the book offers the reader a map showing us where the Collingwoodian argument is present today. This is a very inspired section and no mere afterward (for the past must be present to some degree in the Now). If the letter of Collingwood is forever silent at least the spirit lives on in a few solid, albeit, rare spirits.Excellent book!

⭐Fascinating book, very well written.

⭐I am an old admirer of Collingwood, and find this book illuminating.

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