Recording of a lecture delivered on November 8, 2024, by Allen Speight as part of the Formal Lecture Series.
Professor Speight (SJC Annapolis, 1984) is Professor of Philosophy and Director of Graduate Admissions at Boston University, with a teaching focus on the philosophy of art and culture. Alongside his interest in early art, he has written extensively on Hegel and German Ideology, and is a previous Fullbright Professor of Leuphana Universität Lüneburg in Germany. His most recent book was as co-editor and contributor on Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship and Philosophy (2020).
Professor Speight offers this introduction to his lecture: "Since the modern discovery of Paleolithic cave art in 1879, scholars have pondered its origin and significance. The remarkable paintings and etchings that line the walls of caves at Altamira, Lascaux and Chauvet and hundreds of other sites around the world prompt both wonder and reflection: what can images produced tens of thousands of years ago tell us about the nature of human making and our responses to it? This lecture will explore a range of philosophical questions posed by early art, including the nature of mimesis, the roles of sight and touch, and the relation between symbol and figurative art."
