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Philosophy as Cultural Self-Knowledge: R. G. Collingwood, Peter Winch and the Human Sciences

Project description

Philosophy fostering civil society

A viable civil society needs a public debate on its humanistic values, cultural self-reflection and conceptual analysis. The role of human sciences, especially of philosophy, is crucial. But that idea attracts a narrow minority, despite having two outstanding (yet still underestimated) representatives in philosophers of history and social sciences of the 20th century: R.G. Collingwood (1889-1943) and Peter Winch (1926-1997). In this context, the aim of the EU-funded WC-Cult project is to confront both thinkers and study their visions, while exploring philosophy’s role in sciences and for civil society. The research will be based on manuscripts at the Centre for Ethics: a Study in Human Value of the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic.

Objective

The input of the humanities and social sciences is vital in fostering a viable civil society. Informed public debate concerning the good life needs the kind of reflexive cultural self-understanding that they can offer. In cultural reflection, conceptual analysis, which is the domain of philosophy, has a key role. This vision of philosophy and the human sciences as cultural self-knowledge currently remains a minority view. However, during the twentieth century, it found powerful proponents in two leading philosophers of history and the social sciences: R.G. Collingwood (1889–1943) and Peter Winch (1926–1997). The aim of the planned project is to confront these two thinkers and tease out their underlying visions of philosophy. By engaging with these thinkers, the present project reopens questions about (1) the place of philosophy among the sciences, as well as (2) issues concerning the very nature of philosophical inquiry and (3) its impact on civil society and its challenges.
The relation between Collingwood and Winch remains almost completely unexplored at present. The relationship between philosophy and human historicity, which was a key issue for both, presently remains underdeveloped in the analytic tradition.
The planned research will take advantage of extensive manuscript material at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value (CE) at the University of Pardubice (UPa). The CE has the unique combination of full access to the relevant Peter Winch manuscripts and a team of scholars knowledgeable in the post-Wittgensteinian tradition to which Winch belonged. The project furthermore includes a short visit to the Collingwood Archives at Oxford. The scholarship will enhance the CE’s reputation as the ‘go-to’ place for anyone doing research in the post-Wittgensteinian tradition. It will help the ER establish his reputation as a global expert and to expand his research network in a new direction, i.e. towards scholars on idealism.

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERZITA PARDUBICE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 78 490,32
Address
Studentska 95
532 10 PARDUBICE
Czechia

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Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 78 490,32
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