Hegel, Literature, and the Problem of Agency

Abstract

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit has attracted much attention recently from philosophers, but none of the existing English-language books on the text addresses one of the most difficult questions the book raises: Why does the Phenomenology make such rich and provocative use of literary works and genres? Allen Speight's bold contribution to the debate on the work of Hegel argues that behind Hegel's extraordinary appeal to literature in the Phenomenology 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 whom Hegel himself refers to (Sophocles, Diderot, Schlegel, Jacobi), Allen Speight has written a book with a broad appeal to both philosophers and literary theorists.

Hegel on the Idealism of Practical Life

“…However, Yeomans' overriding goal is to situate Hegel in relation to these traditional concerns, and even to defend a certain causally-oriented interpretation of agency in the face of commentators who seek to deny such a dimension in Hegel. 11 This downplaying of any causal dimension to Hegel's theory of agency in favour of epistemic and normative concerns has perhaps been made most prominent by Robert Pippin (see, for instance, Pippin 2008), but can also be found, for instance, in Deligiorgi (2010), Quante (2004), and Speight (2001). 12 See, for instance, Pippin (2010), where Pippin usefully articulates Hegel's focus on the external conditions of agency in terms of Hegel's dialectic of the inner and the outer, but construes these external conditions exclusively in terms of the social sphere.…”

“…11This downplaying of any causal dimension to Hegel’s theory of agency in favour of epistemic and normative concerns has perhaps been made most prominent by Robert Pippin (see, for instance, Pippin 2008), but can also be found, for instance, in Deligiorgi (2010), Quante (2004), and Speight (2001). …”

Risky Subjectivity: Antigone, Action, and Universal Trespass

“…For a similar point, seeMarkell 2003, p. 27. 18 AllenSpeight (2001) gives fuller consideration to the role of retrospectivity in the Phenomenology than I am able to do in this paper.…”

Forgiving Wordsworth: Revision, Religion, and Cockney Reconciliation in Leigh Hunt'sThe Feast of the Poets

“…At first glance, it may be that their “reconciliation” is a false synonym for “forgiveness” as it translates from German philosophy the abstract and technical synthesizing of conceptual antimonies, the reconciliation of thesis and antithesis not of prodigal son and forgiving father. Yet, scholarship by Stephen Houlgate and Allen Speight has suggested that “forgiveness” is not necessarily inimical to Hegelian thought (Houlgate 103–110; Speight 94–121). Even with Abrams's focus on the metaphysical, his emphasis on Romanticism's “deep‐rooted Scriptural” imagery of “God's reconciliation with His redeemed people” would seem to call for a more personal, more humble, more empathetic “forgiveness” to integrate “whatever is divided, opposed, and conflicting” (45, 182).…”