Collingwood and Toynbee

The article is devoted to the analysis of the critical remarks of Collingwood and Toynbee addressed to each oth er, made in the "Idea of History" and "Comprehension of History". This exchange of opinions didn’t become a dis cussion due to Collingwood's early death, and therefore not all of its provisions remained clarified, and its acutely polemical nature on Collingwood's part confirmed the opinion in the scientific community about the opposition of their views. Meanwhile, an analysis of their mutual criticism allows us to conclude misunderstanding both thinkers each other in the matters of the relativity of historical knowledge, the possibility of scientific knowledge of history and its conceptualization. Collingwood, criticizing Toynbee for his objectivism, didn’t notice in his concept the rea soning about the relativity of historical thinking. Toynbee, criticizing Collingwood for excessive intellectualism, didn’t understand that his way of conceptualizing history includes an analysis of human ways of thinking, but not just a rational component. A comparative analysis of their positions shows that, conflicting with each other on individual points, they held similar ideas about the purpose of history and some fundamental principles of historical knowledge. Both sought a way out of the crisis of historical knowledge through criticism of positivism and the excessive scien tism of historical cognition. Both saw this solution in a middle position between historicism and the philosophy of history. Both linked the study of the past with a universal view of history to solve the problems of the present.