History as a Science

Since its appearance in 1981, History as a Science by Jan van der Dussen has been welcomed as a coherent and comprehensive study of the many aspects of Collingwood’s philosophy of history, including its development and reception. The book was the first to pay attention to Collingwood’s unpublished manuscripts, and to his work as an archaeologist and historian, herewith opening up a new angle in Collingwood studies. The republication of this volume meets an increasing demand to make the book available for future Collingwood scholars, and people interested in Collingwood’s philosophy. The present edition of History as a Science includes updated references to the published manuscripts and an added preface.

Jan van der Dussen, Ph.D. (1980), University of Leiden, is Professor Emeritus at The Open University of The Netherlands. Besides some books in Dutch, he published History as a Science, and with W.H. Dray, R.G. Collingwood: The Principles of History and Other Writings in Philosophy of History (Oxford, 1999), while he edited the revised edition of Collingwood’s The Idea of History (Oxford, 1993).

"It is no longer true to say that history as a science has been neglected, and this is due largely to Dussen. History as a Science is a mighty work [...].", Christopher Fear Old Problems Re-opened. R. G. Collingwood and the History of Ideas, p. 66.

"Dussen puts his case powerfully, and what he shows rather brilliantly is that what Collingwood says about history fits with what he says about mind; and that critics cannot complete their attacks on Collingwood’s philosophy of history without taking that philosophy of mind into account." Christopher Fear Old Problems Re-opened. R. G. Collingwood and the History of Ideas, p. 129.