HISTORY AND NATURE IN COLLINGWOOD'S DIALECTIC
abstract
Collingwood's theory of absolute presuppositions and his doctrine of the "scale of forms" remain curiously unrelated in his writings. This paper argues that, while Collingwood supplied no dialectical relation between absolute presuppositions and their consequences such as would have provided a rationale for the progressive development of such presuppositions, the notion of a "scale of forms" can provide such a rationale. This problem within Collingwood's philosophy may be traced to a more general conflict between his historical idealism and his dialectics--a possibility that is explored through an examination of his thoroughly undialectical treatment of the domain of nature.