History as Re-enactment

W. H. Dray examines a central idea in R. G. Collingwood's philosophy of history, that historical understanding requires a re-enactment of past experience. He analyses it, explores its applicability to the practice of history, and considers its relation to other key Collingwoodian ideas. This is the most systematic study yet of this doctrine, and will stand as a landmark in Collingwood studies and in philosophy of history.