Periodic Reporting for period 1 - WC-Cult (Philosophy as Cultural Self-Knowledge: R. G. Collingwood, Peter Winch and the Human Sciences)
Reporting period: 2022-01-03 to 2023-01-02
During the twentieth century, the idea of philosophy and the human sciences generally as the pursuit of cultural self-knowledge found powerful proponents in two leading philosophers of history and the social sciences: R.G. Collingwood (1889–1943) and Peter Winch (1926–1997). Theirs remains a minority view – an important reason being the fact that the debate, according to the project hypothesis, really turns on the tacit question of the nature of philosophy as a whole. Is philosophy one of the sciences, making discoveries of the world and its nature; or is it (as Collingwood and Winch maintained) a second-order inquiry, investigating the conceptual conditions of meaningful thinking? The aim was to confront these two thinkers and tease out their underlying visions of philosophy. The present project has reopened 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.
Up to now, the relation between Collingwood and Winch has remained almost completely unexplored. The relationship between philosophy and human historicity, which was a key issue for both, presently remains underdeveloped in the analytic tradition.
The research has taken advantage of extensive manuscript material available 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 relevant Peter Winch manuscripts and a team of scholars knowledgeable in the tradition to which Winch belonged. The project furthermore included a visits to the Collingwood Archives at Oxford and Winch Archives at King’s College London, and interaction with scholars of Collingwood and British Idealism. 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 Investigator (ER) establish his reputation as a global expert and to expand his research network towards scholars on idealism.
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. The view of the human sciences as a culturally sensitive exercise in self-examination provides a contrast to the frequent mobilisation of history and memory politics in the service of war agendas.
The project has resulted in a new understanding of the commonalities between Winch and Collingwood, based on material that was previously either unknown or had not been scrutinised from this perspective. The project highlights the relevance of their visions of logic and epistemology to the practices of the human sciences.
Up to now, the relation between Collingwood and Winch has remained almost completely unexplored. The relationship between philosophy and human historicity, which was a key issue for both, presently remains underdeveloped in the analytic tradition.
The research has taken advantage of extensive manuscript material available 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 relevant Peter Winch manuscripts and a team of scholars knowledgeable in the tradition to which Winch belonged. The project furthermore included a visits to the Collingwood Archives at Oxford and Winch Archives at King’s College London, and interaction with scholars of Collingwood and British Idealism. 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 Investigator (ER) establish his reputation as a global expert and to expand his research network towards scholars on idealism.
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. The view of the human sciences as a culturally sensitive exercise in self-examination provides a contrast to the frequent mobilisation of history and memory politics in the service of war agendas.
The project has resulted in a new understanding of the commonalities between Winch and Collingwood, based on material that was previously either unknown or had not been scrutinised from this perspective. The project highlights the relevance of their visions of logic and epistemology to the practices of the human sciences.
The project included a research stay in Oxford for the study of unpublished material in the Collingwood Archives at the Weston (Bodleian) Library. The focus was on Collingwood’s views on logic and philosophical realism. A further visit was paid to Peter Winch Archive at King’s College, London, focusing on Winch’s relation to Collingwood and on his views on logic. It included an effort to identify unpublished but publishable material by Winch. The investigator forwarded his views on this to the present editors on Winch’s posthumous works.
One could see that Winch read Collingwood carefully, and that the parallelism between Winch and Collingwood was closer than Winch could have been aware of at the time he published his own works. This was especially visible in their approaches to logic (logic as the study of the conditions of meaningful reasoning, as opposed to logic as a formal system of rules of syntax) and their approach to realism (philosophy as the study of thinking, rather than outlining what exists in the world). While Collingwood mainly looked at logic in the context of the production of historical and scientific knowledge, Winch emphsised its ethical aspects.
In a separate but related case study, the Investigator has studied the paradigm shift in social anthropology in the interwar period, using manuscript material by the anthropologists Edward Westermarck and Bronislaw Malinowski. This work throws new light on how the theoretical framework in anthropology shifted away from a general study of human cultural evolution, towards the functional study of specific cultures. The friendship and intellectual exchange between Westermarck and Malinowski was an important contributing factor. This is an example of the kind of paradigm shift that Collingwood and Winch hoped would take place generally in the human sciences.
The overall project has resulted in two peer-reviewed articles published in 2022, two peer-reviewed articles published in 2023, one accepted for publication and two submitted for peer review. Two non-peer-reviewed scholarly articles have been published within the project in 2022, and two have been accepted for publication in 2022 or 2023. We submitted our book proposal for review in November 2022. The book manuscript will be finalised after the end of the project period, recisely as planned in the project proposal.
By way of dissemination of research results in wider society, the project included three blog posts and two podcasts. The Investigator has presented the research project to a group of upper secondary school students. He has given two public lectures, one for a Finnish civic organisation (available on-line) and one for faculty members and students at the University of Pardubice.
In september 2022, a workshop on idealism and realism in the human sciences was organised in Pardubice within the project, with invited representatives from philosophy and social science.
One could see that Winch read Collingwood carefully, and that the parallelism between Winch and Collingwood was closer than Winch could have been aware of at the time he published his own works. This was especially visible in their approaches to logic (logic as the study of the conditions of meaningful reasoning, as opposed to logic as a formal system of rules of syntax) and their approach to realism (philosophy as the study of thinking, rather than outlining what exists in the world). While Collingwood mainly looked at logic in the context of the production of historical and scientific knowledge, Winch emphsised its ethical aspects.
In a separate but related case study, the Investigator has studied the paradigm shift in social anthropology in the interwar period, using manuscript material by the anthropologists Edward Westermarck and Bronislaw Malinowski. This work throws new light on how the theoretical framework in anthropology shifted away from a general study of human cultural evolution, towards the functional study of specific cultures. The friendship and intellectual exchange between Westermarck and Malinowski was an important contributing factor. This is an example of the kind of paradigm shift that Collingwood and Winch hoped would take place generally in the human sciences.
The overall project has resulted in two peer-reviewed articles published in 2022, two peer-reviewed articles published in 2023, one accepted for publication and two submitted for peer review. Two non-peer-reviewed scholarly articles have been published within the project in 2022, and two have been accepted for publication in 2022 or 2023. We submitted our book proposal for review in November 2022. The book manuscript will be finalised after the end of the project period, recisely as planned in the project proposal.
By way of dissemination of research results in wider society, the project included three blog posts and two podcasts. The Investigator has presented the research project to a group of upper secondary school students. He has given two public lectures, one for a Finnish civic organisation (available on-line) and one for faculty members and students at the University of Pardubice.
In september 2022, a workshop on idealism and realism in the human sciences was organised in Pardubice within the project, with invited representatives from philosophy and social science.
Somewhat surprisingly, this is the first time the intellectual relationship between Collingwood and Winch has been subjected to major scrutiny. The research on Winch has tended to take place within the context of Wittgenstein and the Analytic tradition. This new contextualisation of Winch in the light of his dialogue with Collingwood and the tradition of epistemological idealism helps us understand the underlying unity of his work. He had an independent agenda that did not merely consist of applications of Wittgenstein's ideas on new topics.
With this new perspective, the relation between idealism and realism in the human sciences can be reassessed. Collingwood and Winch are currently studied as classics at philosophy, social science and history departements. By correcting current, persistent misrepresentations, the results of the project may have an impact in the future education of researchers and teachers in history, social science and philosophy.
Similarly, Westermarck and Malinowski have a recognised status as classics in social anthropology, but there has been very little work on their intellectual relationship. Today, the contrast between Westermarck and Malinowski is usually emphasised. By highlighting their commonalities, some persistent misrepresentations of Westermarck, especially in evolutionary psychology, can be laid to rest.
All this points towards a renewed emphasis on the role of the human sciences as a contextually sensitive exercise of cultural self-understanding and self-scrutiny.
With this new perspective, the relation between idealism and realism in the human sciences can be reassessed. Collingwood and Winch are currently studied as classics at philosophy, social science and history departements. By correcting current, persistent misrepresentations, the results of the project may have an impact in the future education of researchers and teachers in history, social science and philosophy.
Similarly, Westermarck and Malinowski have a recognised status as classics in social anthropology, but there has been very little work on their intellectual relationship. Today, the contrast between Westermarck and Malinowski is usually emphasised. By highlighting their commonalities, some persistent misrepresentations of Westermarck, especially in evolutionary psychology, can be laid to rest.
All this points towards a renewed emphasis on the role of the human sciences as a contextually sensitive exercise of cultural self-understanding and self-scrutiny.