Shakespeare in Philosophy (ShiP) is a symposium series created by Richard Wilson, Sir Peter Hall Professor emeritus of Shakespeare Studies at Kingston University. This is a direct continuation of the ‘Shakespeare at the Temple’ symposia organised at Garrick’s Temple to Shakespeare originally under Richard Wilson’s Kingston Shakespeare Seminar (2013-2019).
The goal of these symposia is to help support the Temple by organising quality events. Attendees are Shakespeare and philosophy enthusiasts coming from a wide range of educational and professional backgrounds. ShiP is run on a volunteer basis by an executive committee of 7 academics from within and outside the UK in collaboration with Timo Uotinen from the Shakespeare and Philosophy project 2019-2023.
Richard Wilson’s original formulation for these events:
David Garrick built his Shakespeare Temple beside the Thames at Hampton in 1755, as a place where ‘the thinkers of the world’ would meet to reflect on the plays. He hoped Voltaire would come. Now the Kingston Shakespeare Seminar is realising the great actor’s vision, with a series of symposia on Shakespeare in Philosophy. Each of these Saturday events features talks by leading philosophers and Shakespeare scholars, coffee and tea in the riverside garden designed by Capability Brown, and lunch at the historic Bell Inn.
Below is a chronological list of Shakespeare in Philosophy events organised at the Temple:
- 2016:
- Shakespeare and the Enlightenment, September 3
- 2017:
- Shakespeare and Hegel, April 1
- Shakespeare and Marx, June 24
- Shakespeare and Nietzsche, September 2
- 2018:
- Lacan and Shakespeare, April 7
- Foucault and Shakespeare, June 23
- Derrida and Shakespeare, September 1
- 2019:
- Walter Benjamin and Shakespeare, April 6
- Ernst Kantorowicz and Shakespeare, June 22
- Hannah Arendt and Shakespeare, September 7
- 2022:
- The Collège de Sociologie and Shakespeare, April 9 (online event)
- The Frankfurt School and Shakespeare, June 25 (online event)
- 2023:
- Thinking about Shakespeare and Film, September 2
- Thinking about Shakespeare and Film, September 2












