Metaphysics, Method and Politics: The Political Philosophy of R.G.Collingwood (British Idealist Studies, Series 2: Collingwood) Book

This book argues that R.G. Collingwood developed a rich and coherent account of politics and civilization. It situates Collingwood?s political philosophy within his broad philosophical approach and shows how he understood and placed political experience within the context of human experience as a whole. The book argues both that Collingwood?s overall philosophical approach is both coherent and unified and that his political philosophy should be considered as an integrated whole. Part One demonstrates the overall unity of Collingwood?s philosophical project and firmly rejects the ?radical conversion? hypothesis which suggests that he underwent a fundamental change of mind and came to embrace a form of historical relativism incompatible with his earlier philosophy. Through an outline of Collingwood?s approach to the nature of philosophy, philosophical method and metaphysics it elucidates both their logical inter-relations and their emergence within his philosophical development. Part Two explores Collingwood?s ?political philosophy of civilization?, displaying it as a whole by drawing on a wide variety of sources. It considers the distinctive character of political action in relation to other ethical concepts and experience, the relation between political theory and practice and the nature of civilization. It concludes with a consideration of the dimensions of civilization in which political action is situated within an overall conception of the forms of human experience.Read More