Charles Allen Speight (May 24, 1962) is a professor of philosophy and former chair of Department of Philosophy at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

Life and work

Speight began his academic life at St. John’s College in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

studying journalism with an interest in political coverage. He received his doctorate at the University of Chicago, where he completed his dissertation on Georg Hegel, ''Agency and tragedy in Hegel's philosophy of action,'' in 1993. Before coming to Boston University, He taught at St. Xavier University and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. In the book ''Hegel, Literature, and the Problem of Agency'', he argues that Hegel's treatment of three literary genres,

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

, and the

Romantic novel A romance or romantic novel is a genre fiction novel that primarily focuses on the relationship and romantic love between two people, typically with an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending. Authors who have contributed to the developm ...

(through the works of

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

, Schlegel and

Jacobi Jacobi may refer to: People * Jacobi (surname), a list of people with the surname * Jacobi Boykins (born 1995), American basketball player * Jacobi Francis (born 1998), American football player * Jacobi Mitchell (born 1986), Bahamian sprinter ...

) actually trace three moments of

human agency Agency is the capacity of an actor to act in a given environment. It is independent of the moral dimension, which is called moral agency. In sociology, an agent is an individual engaging with the social structure. Notably, though, the primacy o ...

: retrospectivity, theatricality and

forgiveness Forgiveness, in a psychology, psychological sense, is the intentional and voluntary process by which one who may have felt initially wronged, victimized, harmed, or hurt goes through a process of changing feelings and attitude regarding a given ...

. Therefore, Hegel's philosophical project ''

The Phenomenology of Spirit ''The Phenomenology of Spirit'' (or ''The Phenomenology of Mind''; ) is the most consequential philosophical work of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel described the 1807 work, a ladder to the greater philosophica ...

'' is actually understanding the issue of

in the

modern world The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

. The book has been the subject of a number of reviews by Martin Donougho,

Terry Pinkard Terry P. Pinkard (born 1947) is an American philosopher and Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University. His research and teaching focus on the German tradition in philosophy from Kant to the present. In addition to his ow ...

, Andreas Großmann, Michael Baur, and Simon Lumsden.

Selected publications

* *

Translations

Honors and awards

* 2012:

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Professor at Leuphana Universität of Lüneburg * 2002:

Berlin Prize The Berlin Prize is a residential fellowship at the Hans Arnhold Center, awarded by the American Academy in Berlin to scholars and artists. Each year, about 20 fellows are selected. The stated mission of the program is to improve the transatlan ...

Fellow of the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and German ...

* 1990: Fellow of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) * 1991-1992: Fulbright Scholar at the Hegel Archive of the

Ruhr-Universität Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speight, Allen Boston University faculty Hegel scholars University of Chicago alumni 1962 births Living people