ABSTRACT
A large part of Collingwood's critique of analytical philosophy stems from his dislike of its unhistorical nature. It is possible to be a good scientist, at the cutting edge, with little or no historical sense. By contrasts Collingwood's conception of metaphysics saw it as an entirely historical subject, a subject in which argument, proof, and truth are not the field but only a historical understanding of the presuppositions of particular ages. Once the self-standing proposition is allowed as the primary object of philosophical enquiry, its logical structure is ready for analysis. The process is analagous to that whereby a chemist might discover the structure of a material; hence the eventual doctrine of logical atomism. The chemical model of analysis depends on logical atomism: The self-standing proposition presents itself to the logical eye, and techniques of analysis break open its constitution.
