The Philosophy of Enchantment: Studies in Folktale, Cultural Criticism, and AnthropologyThis is the long-awaited publication of a set of writings by the British philosopher, historian, and archaeologist R.G. Collingwood on critical, anthropological, and cultural themes only hinted at in his previously available work. At the centre of the book are six chapters of a study of folktale and magic, composed by Collingwood in the mid-1930s and intended for development into a book. Here Collingwood applies the principles of his philosophy of history to problems in thelong-term evolution of human society and culture. This is preceded, in Part I, by a range of contextualizing material on such topics as the relations between music and poetry, the nature of language, the value of Jane Austen's novels, the philosophy of art, and the relations between aesthetic theory andartistic practice. Part III of the volume consists of two essays, one on the relationship between art and mechanized civilization, and the second, written in 1931, on the collapse of human values and civilization leading up to the catastrophe of armed conflict. These offer a devastating analysis of the consequences that attend the desertion of liberal principles, indeed of all politics as such, in the ultimate self-annihilation of military conquest.The volume opens with three substantial introductory essays by the editors, authorities in the fields of critical and literary history, social and cultural anthropology, and the philosophy of history and the history of ideas; they provide their explanatory and contextual notes to guide the reader through the texts. The Philosophy of Enchantment brings hitherto unrecognized areas of Collingwood's achievement to light, and demonstrates the broad range of Collingwood's intellectualengagements, their integration, and their relevance to current areas of debate in the fields of philosophy, cultural studies, social and literary history, and anthropology. |
Contents
ABBREVIATIONS | xi |
EDITORS FOREWORD AND NOTE | xiii |
EDITORS INTRODUCTION | xxiii |
Perspectives from Anthropology | lvi |
Perspectives from Philosophy and the History of Ideas | xcii |
ART AND CULTURE | 1 |
TALES OF ENCHANTMENT | 113 |
THE MODERN UNEASE | 289 |
336 | |
359 | |
Other editions - View all
The Philosophy of Enchantment: Studies in Folktale, Cultural Criticism, and ... Robin George Collingwood No preview available - 2007 |
The Philosophy of Enchantment:Studies in Folktale, Cultural Criticism, and ... R. G. Collingwood No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic anthropology artist belief Bodleian Library Collingwood Bronze Age called Catskin century chapter Cinderella civilization Colling Collingwoodian conception critical culture customs E. E. Evans-Pritchard emotional English evidence example exist expression fact fairy fairy tales feeling folklore folktale Frazer Freud Golden Bough historian human idea imagination invented Jack Zipes Jane Austen kind language lectures Library Collingwood Papers literary literature living London magic man’s manuscript Marett means merely method mind modern Mu¨ller myth natural beauty naturalistic normative science object one’s Opposite fo original ourselves Oxford philosophy political practice Pride and Prejudice primitive principles programme music psychology Quentin Skinner question R. G. Collingwood relation religion ritual romantic savage scientific sense simply social society story taboo themes theory thing thought tion Totem and Taboo totemism tradition Tylor understand University Press utilitarian whole words write