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As you will probably have seen in paragraph 1.1, most of the British Idealists shared a similar political activism – that is, that of left-wing liberalism. Many were involved in social work and programmes at universities in Oxford and Scotland that aimed to provide access for men and women of all classes of society (eg. The University Settlement programme).
It can also be noted that man British Idealists had a Christian background,a and most were themselves Chirstians (although, for their criticism of Christian dogma, that’s been doubted by some). This influenced their philosophy of religion, and likely also their devotion to social work (for it is regarded as a duty of citizenship).
As for the Idealist views they held, they all tired to create a monism of matter and mind, individualism and collectivism, and other so-called contradictions, but did so in obviously different ways: some (Jones and Oakeshott) united contradicting views by showing what each had of the other, whereas Collingwood united everything in an absolute presupposition, and Bradley said that only reality was non-contradictory, and that what was contradictory, was appearance.
However, it will likely be noticed that the Idealism in their philosophy emerges in all the discussed areas – religion, morality, politics and history. Even though each uses Idealism in a different way, and, for example, both conservatism and liberalism can be supported by it, it is clear that there is noticeable similarity in the principles that all these philosophers apply: the Idealist viewpoint. How “Idealist” this viewpoint is, and how it relates to forms of Idealism, I’m going to research in the next chapter.