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Michael A. Gillespie CV

Professor of Political Science
Political Science
Box 90204, Durham, NC 27708-0204
204G Gross Hall, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours By appointment.  
CV

Overview


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.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Political Science · 1995 - Present Political Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Philosophy · 2017 - Present Philosophy, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Bass Fellow · 2008 - Present Political Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published December 14, 2015
What Journalists Should Ask of Candidates
Published December 14, 2015
Op-ed: Here's the question journalists should ask of candidates
Published September 26, 2014
How to crowdsource a constitution

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Recent Publications


The Theological Origins and Underpinning of the Longing for Total Revolution

Journal Article Critical Review · January 1, 2021 The longing for total revolution described in Bernard Yack’s seminal book, which he analyzes as an effort to find a place for human freedom and morality in a world governed by natural necessity, can be traced to Reformation debates between predestinarian C ... Full text Cite

Debt

Chapter · 2019 Cite
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Recent Grants


Constitution Day 2023

ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Jack Miller Center · 2023 - 2024

The John Locke Project for the Visions of Freedom Living Learning Community

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Jack Miller Center · 2020 - 2023

Constitution Day 2022

ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Jack Miller Center · 2022 - 2022

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Education, Training & Certifications


The University of Chicago · 1981 Ph.D.