Imagination in the study of history: Collingwood reconsidered

Abstract

Philosopher and historian R.G. Collingwood made bold claims for the role imagination plays in the study of history, but does not adequately qualify his claims. In this thesis I add content to Collingwood’s conception of historical imagination by using Collingwood’s works to inter-illuminate each other and by incorporating more thought on imagination and history that has been written since Collingwood. I conclude that there are three types of imagination relevant to a Collingwoodian historian: inquisitive, instructive, and representative imagination.