Hegel, Literature, and the Problem of Agency

by Allen Speight

Overview

Allen Speight argues that behind Hegel's extraordinary appeal to literature in the Phenomenology of Spirit lies a philosophical project concerned with understanding human agency in the modern world. It shows that Hegel looked to three literary genres—tragedy, comedy, and the romantic novel—as offering privileged access to three moments of human agency: retrospectivity, theatricality, and forgiveness. Taking full account of the authors that Hegel himself refers to (Sophocles, Diderot, Schlegel, Jacobi), Allen Speight has written a book with a broad appeal to both philosophers and literary theorists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521791847
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/05/2001
Series:	Modern European Philosophy
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.67(d)
Lexile:	1730L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. 'Hegel's novel': the Phenomenology of the Spirit and the problem of philosophical narrative; 2. Tragedy and retrospectivity: Hegel's Antigone; 3. Comedy and theatricality: desire, Bildung and the sociality of agent's self-knowledge; 4. Forgiveness and the romantic novel: contesting the beautiful soul; 5. From the Phenomenology to the Philosophy of Right: Hegel's concept of the will and the possibility of modern ethical life.

Editorial Reviews

"Speight's book is clearly written, well argued, and nothing if not ambitious. His book marks a new point for Hegel scholarship in English." Ethics

From the Publisher