The Afterlife of Idealism

The Afterlife of Idealism

Admir Skodo The Afterlife of Idealism The Impact of New Idealism on British Historical and Political Thought, 1945-1980

Admir Skodo University of California Berkeley Berkeley, USA ISBN 978-3-319-29384-4 ISBN 978-3-319-29385-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-29385-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940919 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: eye35.pix / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is, fittingly, the afterlife of my Ph.D. thesis, defended at the European University Institute in 2011. It stems from my interest in three fields: the theory of history, the practice of history, and the politics of history. I believe that the three are inseparable, and that the more conscious historians are of this inseparability, the more they are willing to tarry with all three, the wider the impact their histories will have in, and outside of, academia. In this book I provide an intellectual history of a prominent group of British postwar historians who traversed all three fields in their thought. Over the years I have had the pleasure and privilege of discussing whole drafts or parts of this book with numerous colleagues, friends, and mentors. My first thank-you goes to Professor Martin van Gelderen, my supervisor at the European University Institute. My external supervisor, Professor Mark Bevir, is another person to whom I owe a great deal. And I am very grateful to Professor Stephen A. Smith, Professor Jan-Werner Müller, and Dr. Timothy Stanton, the examining jury members of my thesis. At various academic or informal occasions, some very recent, I have benefited from the comments of numerous colleagues and scholars, to whom I wish to say thanks: Michael Saler, Martin Jay, David Hollinger, James Vernon, Omnia El Shakry, Norma Landau, Susan Miller, Alan Taylor, Lars Edgren, Johan Östling, Björn Lundgren, Ulrika Holgersson, David Dunér, Thomas Kaiserfeld, Victoria Höög, Robert Hopkins, Robert Stern, Ludmilla Jordanova, Mike Braddick, Frank Ankersmit, Giuseppina D Oro, Mathieu Marion, Guy Ortolano, Petri Koikkalainen, Johan Strang, Ere Nokkala, Adriana Luna-Fabritius, Emin Poljarevic, v

vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ervik Cejvan, Dejan Stjepanovic, Sven Mesinovic, Georges Fahmi, Amr Adly, Ilse Lazaroms, Fernando Véliz, Tim Peace, Anders Herlitz, and Michael Kuur Sørensen. At Palgrave Macmillan I would like to thank the two anonymous referees. Their constructive critiques and suggestions have helped me significantly improve the clarity of the book s argument. A thank-you to my editor, Kristin Purdy, who has been very helpful in all stages of the publishing process. All remaining errors and shortcomings of this book are solely my responsibility. I would like to acknowledge and express my gratitude to the following: Mrs. Teresa Smith for allowing me to quote from the papers of R.G. Collingwood; and the masters, fellows, and scholars of St John s College, Cambridge, for allowing me to reproduce material from the papers of Peter Laslett. I also wish to thank Mrs. Fiona Colbert, who helped me locate these papers. The unpublished texts by John Burrow are under the copyright of the Estate of John Burrow, and I wish to thank the Executors of the Estate for granting me the right to quote from them. A thank-you to all my friends and family in Sweden; the Bay Area; and Sycamore, Illinois, to whom I am grateful for having helped me appreciate life beyond, and within, academia. Finally, I am grateful beyond words for the unfailing love and support I have received from my wife, Christine. Admir Skodo

CONTENTS 1 Introduction 1 2 Revisionist Potential: Historical Thought from Absolute to New Idealism 21 3 The Philosophical Moment in Postwar Historiography 77 4 Revisionist Whiggism: Revisions of the English Past from the Tudors to the Victorians 121 5 The Political Thought of Revisionism 181 6 Conclusion 241 Appendix: Short Biographies of Key New Idealists and Early Postwar British Historians 247 Bibliography 257 Index 289 vii