Email
peted@essex.ac.ukLocation
Colchester Campus
Academic support hours
See office door
Biography
Peter Dews read English at Queens' College Cambridge, and took an MA in the sociology of literature at Essex, going on to gain a PhD in philosophy at Southampton University. Before coming to Essex, he taught at philosophy Middlesex University and European philosophy and literature at Anglia Ruskin University. He is author of Logics of Disintegration (1987, reissued in the Verso 'Radical Thinkers' series 2007), The Limits of Disenchantment (1995), and The Idea of Evil (2007); he has also edited Autonomy and Solidarity: Interviews with Jürgen Habermas (1986), and Habermas: A Critical Reader (1999), and co-edited (with Simon Critchley) Deconstructive Subjectivities (1997). He has been a Humboldt Fellow at the University of Tübingen, and has held visiting positions at the University of Konstanz, at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna, at the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, at Columbia University, and in the Center for the Humanities, Grinnell College.
Qualifications
BA Cambridge
MA Essex
PhD Southampton
Research interests
Modernity and the problem of evil
History of German philosophical romanticism and Idealism
Hegel and the Left Hegelians
The Frankfurt School and contemporary Critical Theory
French philosophy from Sartre and Merleau-Ponty to the present
Philosophy and psychoanalysis (especially Lacanian theory)
Previous supervision
Degree type: Occasional Postgraduate Study
Awarded date: 15/1/2023
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 15/7/2022
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 2/3/2020
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 5/7/2019
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 25/3/2019
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 6/7/2017
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 8/6/2017
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 24/11/2016
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 27/4/2016
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Master of Philosophy
Awarded date: 30/9/2015
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 2/6/2015
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 23/1/2015
Degree type: Master of Arts
Awarded date: 30/11/2012
Degree subject: Philosophy
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 23/11/2012
Degree type: Master of Arts
Awarded date: 7/10/2009
Journal articles (19)
Dews, P., (2025). Commemorating Dieter Henrich: Subjectivity and Metaphysics. Hegel Bulletin, 1-25
Dews, P., (2024). Schelling's Liberation of Reason from Itself: Response to Karen Ng and Markus Gabriel. Hegel Bulletin, 1-22
Dews, P., (2023). The Problem of Ethical Ideals in Hellenistic Philosophy and in Psychoanalysis. American Imago. 80 (3), 429-448
Dews, P., (2018). The idea of hope. New Left Review (112), 99-129
Dews, P., (2017). Schwerpunkt: Schelling zwischen Metaphysik und Erfahrung der Freiheit. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 65 (2), 206-210
Dews, P., (2017). Theoriekonstruktion und existenzielle Beschreibung in Schellings Freiheitsschrift. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 65 (2), 239-266
Dews, P., (2017). A forum for philosophical imagination and social critique. Philosophy & Social Criticism. 43 (3), 250-251
Dews, P., (2017). Theory Construction and Existential Description in Schelling's Treatise on Freedom. British Journal for the History of Philosophy. 25 (1), 157-178
Dews, P., (2014). Dialectics and the Transcendence of Dialectics: Adorno's Relation to Schelling. British Journal for the History of Philosophy. 22 (6), 1180-1207
Dews, P., (2014). Nietzsche for Losers?. New Left Review. 86 (2), 209-230
Dews, P., (2008). Intersubjectivity and the “Space of Reasons”: Fichte in the post-analytic context. Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal. 29 (1), 113-159
Dews, P., (2008). Review of Alain Badiou, Being and Event. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Dews, P., (2002). Imagination and the Symbolic:Castoriadis and Lacan. Constellations. 9 (4), 516-521
Dews, P., (1999). The eclipse of coincidence: Lacan, Merleau‐Ponty and Schelling. Angelaki. 4 (3), 15-23
Dews, P., (1996). Law, Solidarity and the Tasks of Philosophy. Theoria: A Journal of Social and Political Theory. 43 (88), 107-127
DEWS, P., (1993). Faktizität, Geltung und Öffentlichkeit. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie. 41 (2), 359-364
Dews, P., (1992). Foucault and the French tradition of historical epistemology. History of European Ideas. 14 (3), 347-363
Dews, P., (1990). Hegel in Analysis: Slavoj Zizek's Lacanian Dialectics. Bulletin of the Hegel Society of Great Britain. 11 (1-2), 1-8
Dews, P., (1979). The Nouvelle Philosophie and Foucault. Economy and Society. 8 (2), 127-171
Books (3)
Dews, P., (2023). Schelling's Late Philosophy in Confrontation with Hegel. Oxford University Press. 0190069120. 9780190069124
Dews, P., (2008). The Idea of Evil. John Wiley And Sons Ltd. 9781405117043
Dews, P., (1995). The Limits of Disenchantment: Essays on Contemporary European Philosophy. Verso. 9781859840221
Book chapters (19)
Dews, P., (2019). Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854). In: The Cambridge Habermas Lexicon. Cambridge University Press. 674- 676. 9781107172029
Dews, P., (2018). Schelling and the Frankfurt School. In: The Routledge Companion to the Frankfurt School. Editors: Gordon, P., Hammer, E. and Honneth, A., . Routledge. 394- 409. 9781138333246
Dews, P., (2017). The Configuration of the Ethical Demand in Løgstrup and Levinas. In: What is Ethically Demanded? K. E. Løgstrup's Philosophy of Moral Life. Editors: Fink, H. and Stern, R., . Notre Dame University Press. 102- 129. 978-0-268-10185-5
Dews, P., (2013). The nouvelle philosophie and foucault. In: Towards a critique of Foucault: Foucault, Lacan and the question of ethics. 61- 105
Dews, P., (2010). Gunnar Hindrichs, Das Absolute und das Subjekt. Untersuchungen zum Verh�ltnis von Metaphysik und Nachmetaphysik. In: in Internationales Jahrbuch des Deutschen Idealismus (2009) / International Yearbook of German Idealism (2009). Editors: Stolzenberg, J., Rush, F., Ameriks, KP. and Franks, P., . De Gruyter. 283- 288. 978-3-11-020878-8
Dews, P., (2010). L?�volution de la doctrine kantienne des postulats de la raison pratique dans La destination de l?homme et dans la Freiheitschrift de Schelling. In: Fichte-Schelling:Lectures crois�es. Editors: Goddard, C. and H�hn, L., . Ergon-Verlag
Dews, P., (2010). Nature and Subjectivity. Fichte?s Role in the Pippin/McDowell Debate in the Light of his neo-Kantian Reception. In: Wissen, Freiheit, Geschichte. Die Philosophie Fichtes im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert.. Editors: Stolzenberg, J. and Rudolph, O., . Rodopi. 235- 250. 978-90-420-2758-9
Dews, P., (2010). "The infinite is losing its charm": Richard Rorty's philosophy of religion and the conflict between therapeutic and pragmatic critique. In: The Philosophy of Richard Rorty. Editors: Auxier, RE. and Hahn, LE., . Open Court. 9780812696417
(2010). Exceedingly Nietzsche. In: Exceedingly Nietzsche: Aspects of Contemporary Nietzsche Interpretation. Editors: Krell, DF. and Wood, D., . Routledge. 111- 119
Dews, P., (2009). The Intolerability of Meaning: Myth, Faith, and Reason in Philosophical Responses to Moral Atrocity. In: The Religious in Responses to Mass Atrocity: Interdisciplinary Persepectives. Editors: Brudholm, T. and Cushman, T., . Cambridge University Press. 60- 76. 9780521518857
Dews, P., (2008). O problema do mal após Freud. In: A filosofia ap�s Freud. Editors: Safatle, V. and Manzi, R., . Editora Humanitas. 15- 32. 9788577320967
Dews, P., (2006). Postmodernism: pathologies of modernity from Nietzsche to the post-structuralists. In: The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought. Editors: Ball, T. and Bellamy, R., . Cambridge University Press. 343- 467. 9780521691628
Dews, P., (2005). Disenchantment and the persistence of evil : Habermas, Jonas, Badiou. In: Modernity and the Problem of Evil. Editors: Schrift, A., . Indiana University Press. 51- 65. 9780253217585
Dews, P., (2005). The eclipse of coincidence: Lacan, merleau-Ponty and Zizek's misreading of Schelling. In: Traversing the Fantasy: Critical Responses to Slavoj Zizek. Editors: Boucher, S., Glynos, J. and Sharpe, M., . Ashgate. 197- 215. 9780815398608
Dews, P., (2004). States of Grace: The Excess of the Demand in Badiou's Ethics of Truths. In: Think Again: Alain Badiou and the Future of Philosophy. Editors: Hallward, P., . Bloomsbury. 106- 119. 9781441134882
Dews, P., (2002). Law, Solidarity and the Tasks of Philosophy. In: Discourse and Democracy - Essays on Habermas's Between Facts and Norms. Editors: von Schomberg, R. and Baynes, K., . State University of New York Press. 978-0-7914-5497-8
Dews, P., (2001). A Question of Grounding: Reconstruction and Strict Reflexion in Habermas and Apel. In: Critical Theory - Current State and Future Prospects. Editors: Hohendahl, P. and Fisher, J., . Berghahn Books. 205- 228. 978-1-57181-235-3
Dews, P., (2001). "Radical Finitude" and the Problem of Evil: Critical Comments on Wellmer's Reading of Jonas. In: Rethinking Evil - Contemporary Perspectives. Editors: Lara, MP., . University of California Press. 46- 52. 9780520226340
Dews, P., (1993). The Crisis of Oedipal Identity: Between Lacan and the Frankfurt School. In: Enlightenments: Encounters between Critical Theory and Contemporary French Thought. Editors: Kunneman, H. and de Vries, H., . Kok Pharos Pub. House. 9789039000410
Conferences (1)
Dews, P., (2014). Nietzsche for losers?
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