The Theoretical Potential of the R. G. Collingwood’s Principles of Arts: the Experience of Modern Interpretation

The article, based on R. G. Collingwood’s monograph Principles of Art (1938), reconstructs the theoretical space of the English humanities of the time. It shows that in his work, R. G. Collingwood, a well-known English neo-Hegelian philosopher and historian of science, substantiated the aesthetic-psychological concept of art, which proved to be in line with modern philosophical and aesthetic-psychological search for scientists. The article highlights the most promising clauses on the psychological essence of art, which should be considered in the logic of attribution of modern theoretical models, and offers the author’s interpretation of Collingwood’s ideas, in the context of which the emphasis is placed on the role of English theorists in the development of interdisciplinarity as one of the cornerstones of cultural analysis. The research emphasizes the importance of historical and cultural traditions and actualizes their potential during the period of avant-garde formation. Concidering the theoretical ideas of R. G. Collingwood, the following aesthetic art problems are conceptualized: “psychic expression”, “sensuality” and “multiplicity of aesthetics”.