Toynbee, Arnold (toin`bē), 1852–83, English economic historian, philosopher, and reformer. After his graduation in 1878 he was a tutor at Balliol College, Oxford, and was active in reform work outside the university, particularly among the London poor. His influence on his students and contemporaries was great, although he lived to be only 31. Toynbee was interested in applying historical method to the study of economics. He objected to Marxism, believing that the best interests of labor and capital lay in cooperation. His lectures to workingmen were published as Lectures on the Industrial Revolution of the 18th Century in England (1884), a pioneer work in economic history. Toynbee Hall in London, the first settlement house, was named for him.

Bibliography

See biographies by A. Milner (1901) and F. C. Montague (1889, repr. 1973).

Toynbee, Arnold (Joseph)

(born April 14, 1889, London, Eng.—died Oct. 22, 1975, York, North Yorkshire) English historian. Long a professor at the University of London and the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Toynbee also held positions with the British Foreign Office. He is best known for his 12-volume A Study of History (1934–61), which put forward a philosophy of history, based on an analysis of the development and decline of 26 civilizations. Criticisms of his Study include his use of myths and metaphors as being of comparable value to factual data and his reliance on a view of religion as a regenerative force. His other works include Civilization on Trial (1948), East to West (1958), and Hellenism (1959).