January 9, 1943

R. G. Collingwood was an Oxford professor of philosophy. He loved the academic life. He gained a reputation also as an expert on Roman Britain. His title of his book, The Idea of History, (1946) suggests his idealism, that is, he argued that two different people, at two different times, could have not similar ideas, but the exact same idea. Collingwood died on January 9, 1943. In the book mentioned we find several illustrative cat pictures, such as the following:

'...[C]ats [do not] attempt, by abstinence from cat's meat, to wheedle the feline
spirits into benevolence. Only man behaves with such gratuitous folly.'

And--

'There are even among non-human animals the beginnings of historical life; for example, among cats, which do not wash by instinct, but are taught by their mothers.'