Arnold Toynbee
(Arnold Joseph Toynbee; London, 1889-York, 1975) British philosopher and historian, considered one of the most important philosophers in history, achieved fame thanks to his 12 volumes of A study of History ( Study of History , 1934-1961).
Toynbee, nephew of also historian Arnold Toynbee, studied primary school at Winchester Institute and entered the Balliol College of the University of Oxford in 1908, where he graduated in classics in 1911.Upon graduation, he spent a brief period of time at the British School in Athens, one of the contacts with the classical world that most It impressed young Toynbee, and it would have such an impact on his work.
Arnold Toynbee
He returned to London a year later, to take up the post of Associate Professor of Ancient History at Balliol College, Cambridge.There he remained until 1919, the year in which he was appointed Professor of Greek and Byzantine Studies at the University of London.In 1925, as the culmination of his academic development, he was appointed director of research in International History at the prestigious London School of Economics, as well as director of the also London Royal Institute of International Relations.He entered the British Academy in 1937.
Until his academic retirement (in 1955), he served as Research Professor of International History at the University of London.The last part of his life was spent traveling and lecturing around the world, mainly in the United States.
In parallel with his academic career, Toynbee held various positions in British politics, especially related with international relations.The first of them, in 1915, was that of an official in the Intelligence department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.In 1919 it was one of Great Britain's legacies at the Peace of Versailles, which only served to light the fuze of the Second World War and which significantly influenced the perception of Toynbee's story, as glimpsed in the work published to root of that legation: The world after the peace conference (1925).
Among his abundant historiographical production, works such as The question of the East among Greece should be highlighted and Turkey (1922), a publication he made while he was a correspondent for the British newspaper Manchester Guardian in the conflict that developed between the two nations during the years 1921-1922.He had previously published his essays Nationalities and War (1915) and The New Europe (1915), where he carried out an amazing exercise in self-criticism towards the future of the West in recent years.hundred years, expanded in his two best works on this issue: Civilization on trial (1948) and, especially, The world and the West (1952).
Despite this dedication, Toynbee never abandoned his specialization in the history of Greece, to which he devoted various studies of which Greek Historical Thought (1924), Greek civilization and character (1924) and Hellenic civilization (1959).Another of his preferred fields of action, that of spirituality, was also adorned with studies to which Toynbee devoted most of his research activity after World War II; Among them it is mandatory to highlight Approach of a historian to religion (1956), Change and custom (1966) and Christianity among the religions of the world (1958).
His frequent trips to the United States during the 1960s produced some important works, especially From East to West: a journey through the world (1958), The United States in the world revolution (1962) and Cities on the move (1973).Some time before this last work, Experiencias (1969), a miscellaneous work composed of articles, essays, notes and some surprising poems had seen the light.
Toynbee's last work, which appeared posthumously in 1976, was Humankind and Mother Earth: A Narrative History of the World .In it you could see Toynbee's restless spirit, as he was rearranging several of his philosophical postulates when approaching currents such as environmentalism, absent in his first analyzes of civilization.
The Study of History
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