The Idea of History as a Scale of Forms

It is argued that the concept of history-as-inquiry that emerges in R. G. Collingwood's posthumous The Idea of History (Oxford, 1948) is a historical open concept & is precisely a scale of forms of overlapping classes. Every advance in the nature of historical practice results in a change in the character of the discipline, a change of degree leading to a change in kind. Collingwood's earlier work, An Essay on Philosophical Method (Oxford, 1933) offers an account of the nature of philosophical concepts, each of which he takes to be a scale of forms of overlapping classes. The class is defined by its generic essence, which is the variable that changes whenever the concept appears to have a new shape, &, in his view, each change of degree -- numerical or quasi-numerical idea -- is reflected in a change of kind. It is also argued that Collingwood was mistaken in thinking that he was dealing with philosophical concepts only; though given that he was working in the period of the major positivist assault on traditional philosophy, he may have been motivated to distinguish between philosophical concepts & others in order to defend the former. It is contended that what he has actually characterized is the nature of open concepts. Some open concepts carry their histories with them -- be they philosophical or other -- & can be understood only if the character of their historical development is also understood; a number of examples are presented. Modified AA