Historical thinking in clinical medicine: lessons from R . G . C ollingwood's philosophy of history

The aim of this article is to create a space for historical thinking in medical practice. To this end, we draw on the ideas of R . G . C ollingwood (1889–1943), the renowned B ritish philosopher of history, and explore the implications of his philosophy for clinical medicine. We show how C ollingwood's philosophy provides a compelling argument for the re‐centring of medical practice around the patient history as a means of restoring to the clinical encounter the human meaning that is too often lost in modern medicine. Furthermore, we examine how C ollingwood's historical thinking offers a patient‐centred epistemology and a more pluralistic concept of evidence that includes the qualitative, narrative evidence necessary for human understanding. We suggest that clinical medicine can benefit from C ollingwood's historical thinking, and, more generally, illustrates how a philosophy of medicine that draws on diverse sources from the humanities offers a richer, more empathetic clinical practice.