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Quote by Robin G. Collingwood

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Robin G. Collingwood
Robin G. Collingwood

Robin G. Collingwood (February 22, 1889 – January 9, 1943) was a British philosopher, historian, and archaeologist, best known for his contributions to the philosophy of history, aesthetics, and metaphysics. Born in Lancashire, England, he was influenced by his father, an artist and archaeologist. Collingwood studied and taught at Oxford University, where he became the Waynflete Professor of Metaphysical Philosophy. His major works include The Idea of History, The Principles of Art, and An Essay on Metaphysics. He argued that all history is the history of thought, emphasizing the historian's role in re-enacting past ideas. His ideas have had a lasting impact on Western philosophy and historiography. more

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“I don't want to write a mass before being in a state to do it well, that is a Christian. I have therefore taken a singular course to reconcile my ideas with the exigencies of Academy rules. They ask me for something religious: very well, I shall do something religious, but of the pagan religion. . . . I have always read the ancient pagans with infinite pleasure, while in Christian writers I find only system, egoism, intolerance, and a complete lack of artistic taste.”

“Religion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice . . . . Truth breaks free, science is popularized, and religion totters; soon it will fall, in the course of centuries--that is, tomorrow. . . . In good time we shall only have to deal with reason.”