Professor of Political Science and Philosophy, works in political philosophy, with particular emphasis on modern continental theory and the history of political philosophy. He is the author of Hegel, Heidegger and the Ground of History, Nihilism before Nietzsche, The Theological Origins of Modernity, and Nietzsche's Final Teaching. He is also co-editor of Nietzsche's New Seas: Explorations in Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Politics, Ratifying the Constitution, and Homo Politicus, Homo Economicus. He has published articles on Montaigne, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Existentialism, and various topics in American political thought and public philosophy, as well as on the relation of religion and politics. He is currently completing a sequel to Theological Origins of Modernity, tentatively titled the Theological Fate of Modernity.  He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Department of Education, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Templeton Foundation, the Liberty Fund, the Jack Miller Foundation, the Smith Foundation, and the Earhart Foundation. He is the Director of the Duke Program in American Values and Institutions, and the Visions of Freedom Focus Program.

Office Location: 204G Gross Hall, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
Fax:  (919) 660-4330
Email Address:
Web Page: https://duke.box.com/s/jm17qvs77f052z1ymcoitd4igqmew1ek

Office Hours:

By appointment.

Education:
Ph.D., The University of Chicago, 1981
Research fellow, Ruhr Universität-Hegel Archives, Bochum, Germany, 1976
A.B. magna cum laude, Harvard University, 1973

Specialties:

Political Philosophy
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Research Interests:

Michael Gillespie (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is the author of Hegel, Heidegger and the Ground of History, Nihilism before Nietzsche. and The Theological Origins of Modernity. He is also co-editor of Nietzsche's New Seas: Explorations in Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Politics, Ratifying the Constitution, and Homo Politicus, Homo Economicus.. He has published articles on Montaigne, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and various topics in American political thought, as well as on the relation of religion and politics. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the German Academic Exchange Service, the Templeton Foundation, the Liberty Fund, the Earhart Foundation, the Smith Foundation, and The Jack Miller Center. He is the Director of the Gerst Program in Political, Economic, and Humanistic Studies, and the Duke Program in American Values and Institutions.

Areas of Interest:

Political Philosophy, 
Modern Continental Philosophy, 
History of Political Philosophy

• HOUSECS 59.20, House course (sp top) Synopsis

  Social Sciences 105, Tu 07:00 PM-08:30 PM

• POLSCI 676S.01, Hegel's pol philosophy Synopsis

  Perkins 088, MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM

Teaching (Spring 2025):

• HOUSECS 59.10, House course (sp top) Synopsis

  Social Sciences 105, M 07:00 PM-08:30 PM

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

• Gillespie, M. "“The Knots of Experience,”." Experience – Implikationen für Mensch, Gesellschaft und Politik. Festschrift für Wolfgang Leidhold,. :Königshausen & Neumann,, 2021. 
• Folch, C. "Debt." HYDROPOLITICS: THE ITAIPU DAM, SOVEREIGNTY, AND THE ENGINEERING OF MODERN SOUTH AMERICA. Indiana University Press, 2019. 128-156.
• Allen Gillespie, M. "On Debt and Redemption: Friedrich Nietzsche's Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence." Journal of Religious Ethics 46.2 (June, 2018): 267-287. [doi]  [abs]
• Gillespie, MA. "Beyond the Island of Truth: Hegel and the Shipwreck of Science." MASTERY OF NATURE: PROMISES AND PROSPECTS.  2018. 171-182.
• Gillespie, MA. "Radical Hopes: Apocalyptic Longing in Nineteenth-Century Philosophy." APOCALYPTIC COMPLEX  (2018): 181-201.

Curriculum Vitae