Cheyne Peter

Last Updated :2026/07/03

Affiliations, Positions
Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor
Self-introduction

Currently working on philosophical and interdisciplinary projects on (1) expressions of transcendence through epiphanies or mystical experience in 20th- and 21st-century literature and philosophy (2) the aesthetics of perfection and imperfection; (3) the philosophical development of theories of life and matter, 1650–1850; (4) the thought of S. T. Coleridge.

Basic Information

Academic Degrees

  • University of Kent
  • Durham University
  • Ph.D., University of Durham

Research Fields

  • Humanities;Philosophy;Religious studies
  • Humanities;Art studies;Aesthetics and studies on art
  • Humanities;Philosophy;History of thought
  • Humanities;Literature;Literature in English

Research Keywords

  • S. T. Coleridge, British romanticism, aesthetics of imperfection, Bob Dylan, American transcendentalism, R.W. Emerson, John Muir, mystical experience, philosophy of rhythm

Affiliated Academic Societies

Educational Activity

Course in Charge

  1. 2026, Liberal Arts Education Program1, 1Term, CommunicationIＡ
  2. 2026, Liberal Arts Education Program1, 3Term, Communication IIＡ
  3. 2026, Undergraduate Education, 1Term, A History of English Literature A
  4. 2026, Undergraduate Education, 3Term, A History of English Literature B
  5. 2026, Undergraduate Education, 4Term, Lecture on Literatures in English
  6. 2026, Undergraduate Education, 2Term, English Conversation II
  7. 2026, Undergraduate Education, First Semester, Guidance on Graduation Thesis A
  8. 2026, Undergraduate Education, Second Semester, Guidance on Graduation Thesis B
  9. 2026, Undergraduate Education, Second Semester, Graduation Thesis
  10. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 4Term, Seminar on Literary Criticism on Literature in English A
  11. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 4Term, Seminar on Literary Criticism on Literature in English B
  12. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 2Term, Seminar on Fiction in English A
  13. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 2Term, Seminar on Fiction in English B
  14. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 1Term, Seminar on Studies of Fiction in English A
  15. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 1Term, Seminar on Studies of Fiction in English B
  16. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 3Term, Seminar on Poetry in English A
  17. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , 3Term, Seminar on Poetry in English B
  18. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , First Semester, Special Research
  19. 2026, Graduate Education (Master's Program) , Second Semester, Special Research
  20. 2026, Graduate Education (Doctoral Program) , First Semester, Special Research
  21. 2026, Graduate Education (Doctoral Program) , Second Semester, Special Research

Research Activities

Academic Papers

  1. Owen Ware. Return of the Gods: Mythology in Romantic Philosophy and Literature. Oxford University Press, 2025., Journal of the History of Philosophy, 64(3), 512-514, 20260701
  2. Reconsidering Primary Imagination: The Poetics of Ordinary Life in Coleridge, Hiroshima Studies in English Language and Literature, 70, 42-62, 202603
  3. ★, Bloody Speck: How S. T. Coleridge Turned the Embryological Punctum Saliens into a Metaphysical Principle, International Archives of the History of Ideas, 253, 293-322, 202506
    Link to Paper Search Results by DOI
  4. ★, Introduction to Dynamical Idealists on Matter and Life, International Archives of the History of Ideas, 253, 202506
  5. ★, Emerson's Transparent Eyeball, a Genealogy, Emerson's Affinities, 122-144, 2025
  6. Review: Chris Townsend. George Berkeley and Romanticism: Ghostly Language. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022., Berkeley Studies, 31, 29-38, 202501
  7. Review: Aesthetics, Poetics, and Phenomenology in Samuel Taylor Coleridge, by Tom Marshall, Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology, 11(1-2), 199-203, 20240702
  8. Dylan at 80: It used to go like that, and now it goes like this, British Journal of Aesthetics, 65(3), 511-514, 20240601
  9. The Philosophy of Modern Song by Bob Dylan (review), Philosophy and Literature, 48(1), 254-257, 202404
  10. S. T. Coleridge, Becoming Prayer: A 250th Anniversary Celebration and Reflection, The Scottish Episcopal Institute Journal, 7(1), 26-43, 202304
  11. The Amended Version ‘Coleridge’s Cosmic Sense of Ideas’, Studies in English Literature, Regional Branches Combined Issue, 16, 307-316, 2023
  12. ★, Coleridge's Cosmic Sense of Ideas, The Coleridge Bulletin, 60, 30-37, 202212
  13. ★, S. T. Coleridge and the Transcendence of Reason, HEYTHROP JOURNAL, 63(3), 349-366, 202205
  14. Romanticism and the Re-Invention of Modern Religion: The Reconciliation of German Idealism and Platonic Realism, RELIGION & LITERATURE, 53(2), 153-155, 202106
  15. Aesthetic Contemplation: Between the Swallows and the Shrine, Japan Mission Journal, 75, 3-8, 2021
  16. The Divided Line: Lower and Higher, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  17. The Way Down and the Way Up, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  18. The Blind that Gaze, the Blind that Creep Back, Shades that Flit, and the Dragon, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  19. The Coleridgean Idea, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  20. The Energic–Energetic Distinction and Coleridge’s Two-Level Theory of Mind, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  21. The ‘Sense’ of Knowledge, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  22. Adapting Böhme’s Bipolar Model, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  23. The Art of Poetic Life-Writing, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  24. Contemplative Practice and the Ideas, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  25. Aesthetic Contemplation, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  26. Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 2020
  27. Developing Polarity: Trichotomy, Tetractys, and Pentad, 267-293, 202001
  28. Religious Experience, Imagination, and Interpretation: A Case Study, Journal of Scottish Thought, 10, 26-51, 201902
  29. Encoded and Embodied Rhythm, The Philosophy of Rhythm, 2019
  30. The Philosophy of Rhythm, The Philosophy of Rhythm, 2019
  31. Coleridge on Ideas Actualized in History, Intellectual History Review, 29(3), 489-514, 201901
  32. [rec. to] Coleridge and Contemplation. Peter Cheyne editor, Le Simplegadi, 239-247, 201811
  33. Coleridge and contemplation, Coleridge and Contemplation, 1-332, 20170101
  34. Coleridge’s ‘order of the mental powers’ and the energic–energetic distinction, Coleridge and Contemplation, 171-192, 20170101
  35. Introduction, Coleridge and Contemplation, 1-16, 20170101
  36. S. T. Coleridge and the Varieties of Contemplation, Journal of Romanticism (Special Issue: Romanticism & Mysticism), 1(1), 53-84, 2016
  37. Materials Development for a Japanese University CLIL Class, English Language Teaching World Online, Special Edition on CLIL, 50pp, 201504
  38. The Art of Poetic Life-Writing, The Coleridge Bulletin, 44, 77-88, 201412
  39. A Coleridgean Account of Meditative Experience, Journal of Philosophy of Life, 3(1), 44-67, 2013
  40. The Romanticized Plato, Comparative Culture, 16, 92-155, 2011
  41. The Coleridgean Imagination: its Role in Thought and its Relation to Reason’, Comparative Culture, 15, 39-62, 2010
  42. Sartre on the Relation between Consciousness and the Ego, Fukuoka University Review of Literature & Humanities, 37(2), 559-619, 200509
  43. ‘The Existential Relation of Mood and Self in Heidegger’s Being and Time, Fukuoka University Review of Literature & Humanities, 36(3), 687-730, 200412
  44. The Existential Relation of Mood and Self in Kierkegaard’s The Sickness Unto Death, Fukuoka University Review of Literature & Humanities, 36(1), 187-226, 200406

Publications such as books

  1. 2026/02, 'S. T. Coleridge's "Ideal Realism" and the Substance of Nature", in Romantic Realisms Speculative Reconfigurations of Literature, Philosophy, and Science in German Romanticism , ed. Barry Murnane and Steven Lydon, In the chapter "'S. T. Coleridge's 'Ideal Realism' and the Substance of Nature," Peter Cheyne explores how Coleridge synthesizes Kantian idealism and Schellingian Naturphilosophie to position nature as a dynamic, unfolding manifestation of divine ideas. The analysis argues that Coleridge overcomes dualism by viewing material objects as active, organic vessels of transcendental meaning and living forms., 'S. T. Coleridge's "Ideal Realism" and the Substance of Nature", in Romantic Realisms, ed. Barry Murnane and Steven Lydon, S. T. Coleridge, philosophical idealism, romanticism, realism, philosophy of nature,, Liverpool University Press, 2026, Scholarly Book, Single work, English, Peter Cheyne, 9781805966784, 28, Routledge
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  2. 2025/11, Emerson's Affinities: Father of the American Mind., This title traces the intellectual lineage of R.W. Emerson's transcendentalist metaphor of the 'transparent eyeball' from S.T. Coleridge's poem 'Limbo' (1811) and his idealism to an afterlife in John Muir's environmentalism and his story about his dangerous adventure with a dog, 'Stickeen' (1897). The text analyses how the 'transparent eyeball' facilitates an ego-less, unmediated communion with nature, transforming into a coherent ecological framework in Muir's writings., Emerson's 'Transparent Eye-ball', a Genealogy: Coleridge, Emerson, Muir, S. T. Coleridge, R. W. Emerson, John Muir, "transparent eyeball", American transcendentalism, British romanticism, environmentalism, Routledge, 2025, 12, Scholarly Book, Single work, English, Peter Cheyne, 9781032994017
  3. 2025, Matter and life in Coleridge, Schelling, and other dynamical idealists, Matter and life in Coleridge, Schelling, and other dynamical idealists, Springer Nature, Editor, eng, Cheyne, Peter, 9783031783142, viii, 387 pages
  4. 2023, Imperfectionist Aesthetics and the Inclusionist Ethos, This essay contrasts the aesthetics of perfection and imperfection and shows how they lead to different ethoses or cultural atmospheres. An aesthetic of imperfection is proposed as one way to create a more inclusive ethos. This chapter progresses from practical maxims, through examples of aesthetic practice, to a schematic theory of cultural production, before situating insights from these in a recent theory of cultural openness. Section 1 ("Maxims") relates imperfectionist aesthetics to some of Montesquieu's political maxims and the notion of not letting the best be the enemy of the good. Section 2 ("Examples") then explores imperfectionism in works by John Coltrane and Lawrence "Butch" Morris. Section 3 ("Schema") then adapts a post-Kantian theory of the interpenetration of opposites to the dialectic between aesthetic creativity and ethical regulation. Finally, Section 4 ("Social Theory") applies Byung-Chul Han's social philosophy to this dialectic, criticizing the "violence of perfection" as a closed ideal that imposes sociocultural homogeneity., Imperfectionist Aesthetics and the Inclusionist Ethos, aesthetics, perfection, imperfection, Montesquieu, John Coltrane, Lawrence 'Butch' Morris, Byung-Chul Han, social philosophy, cultural theory, Routledge, 2023, 1, Scholarly Book, Single work, English, Peter Cheyne, 9781032164557, 17
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  5. 2023/01, Imperfectionist Aesthetics, Broadening the Field and Clarifying the Definition, This chapter introduces the main areas of of imperfectionist aesthetics as it branches out in the essays in this book. I discuss the scope of imperfectionist aesthetics beyond current studies by touching on various examples such as castle restoration, altars, kintsugi repair, literary descriptions, rural kitchen tables, and in more detail, the fragment (in Section 2) attending to Ludwig Wittgenstein and related authors. I also comment on the social importance of imperfectionist aesthetics, which is a central concern of this book and a corrective to what one might see as the perversions of perfectionism. The literary or philosophical fragment is paid closer attention here as I analyse how, paradoxically, the fragment can suggest completeness, by intimating ongoingness, more ably than can perfectionist attempts. Finally, in Section 5, I demonstrate the important distinction between evaluative and descriptive imperfection (and perfection) and show how the argument that imperfectionism is self-defeating rests on an equivocation and is therefore invalid by not differentiating these two senses of the terms., Imperfectionist Aesthetics, Broadening the Field and Clarifying the Definition, Routledge, English, 9781003251361, 21
  6. 2023, Imperfectionist Aesthetics in Art and Everyday Life, This book presents interdisciplinary research on the aesthetics of perfection and imperfection. Broadening this growing field, it connects the aesthetics of imperfection with issues in areas including philosophy, music, literature, urban environment, architecture, art theory, and cultural studies. The contributors to this volume argue that imperfection has value in being open and inclusive. The aesthetics of imperfection is typified by organic, unpolished production and the avoidance of perfect finish, instead representing living and natural change, and opposing the consumerist concern with the flawless and pristine. The chapters are divided into seven thematic sections. After the first section, on imperfection across the arts and culture, the next three parts are on imperfection in the arts of music, visual and theatrical arts, and literature. The second half of this book then moves to categories in everyday life and branches this further into body, self, and the person, and urban environments. Together, the chapters promote a positive ethos of imperfection that furthers individual and social engagement and supports creativity over mere passivity., Imperfectionist Aesthetics in Art and Everyday Life, aesthetics, imperfection, perfection, music, art, architecture, urban studies, cultural theory, Routledge, 2023, 1, Scholarly Book, Editor, eng, Cheyne, Peter, 9781032164557, 412
  7. 2020/03/24, Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, 'PHILOSOPHY, or the doctrine and discipline of ideas' as S. T. Coleridge understood it, is the theme of this book. It considers the most vital and mature vein of Coleridge's thought to be the contemplation of ideas objectively, as existing powers. A theory of ideas emerges in critical engagement with thinkers including Plato, Plotinus, Böhme, Kant, and Schelling. A commitment to the transcendence of reason, central to what he calls the spiritual platonic old England, distinguishes him from his German contemporaries. The book also engages with Coleridge's poetry, especially in a culminating chapter dedicated to the Limbo sequence. This book pursues a theory of contemplation that draws from Coleridge's theories of imagination and the Ideas of Reason in his published texts and extensively from his thoughts as they developed throughout unpublished works, fragments, letters, and notebooks. He posited a hierarchy of cognition from basic sense intuition to the apprehension of scientific, ethical, and theological ideas. The structure of the book follows this thesis, beginning with sense data, moving upwards into aesthetic experience, imagination, and reason, with final chapters on formal logic and poetry that constellate the contemplation of ideas., Coleridge's Contemplative Philosophy, S.T. Coleridge, romantic poetry, British romanticism, Platonism, philosophical idealism, history of ideas, nineteenth-century studies, contemplation, noses, poetics, Oxford University Press, 2020, 03, Scholarly Book, Single work, eng, Cheyne, Peter, 9780198851806, 400, Sole author
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  8. 2019/10, Introduction to The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, Introduction to The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, Oxford University Press, Peter Cheyne
  9. 2019/10, The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, Oxford University Press, Joint editor, Peter Cheyne
  10. 2019/10, 'Encoded and Embodied Rhythm: An Unprioritized Ontology', chapter in The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, 'Encoded and Embodied Rhythm: An Unprioritized Ontology', chapter in The Philosophy of Rhythm: Aesthetics, Music, Poetics, Oxford University Press, Peter Cheyne
  11. 2017/08, Coleridge and Contemplation (Coleridge’s ‘Order of the Mental Powers’ and the Energic–Energetic Distinction), Coleridge and Contemplation (Coleridge’s ‘Order of the Mental Powers’ and the Energic–Energetic Distinction), Oxford University Press, Contributor, Peter Cheyne
  12. 2017/08, Coleridge and Contemplation, Coleridge and Contemplation, Oxford University Press, Editor, Peter Cheyne
  13. 2014, Ars biographica poetica: Coleridgean Imagination and the Practical Value of Contemplation, Ars biographica poetica: Coleridgean Imagination and the Practical Value of Contemplation, Durham University, e-theses (PhD thesis)
  14. 2001, Mood and Self in the Philosophies of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre, Mood and Self in the Philosophies of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Sartre, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, MPhil thesis, Peter Cheyne

Invited Lecture, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation

  1. The Rules of Art: Articulating the Barbaric Yawp, The Rules of Art and AI Art, 2026/04/17, With Invitation, English, DGIST(Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology) National Research Foundation of Korea, Soongsil University, Korea
  2. Literature, Criticism, Transcendence, and the Meaning of Life, Romanticism and Creativity. British Association of Romanticism, 2025/12/08, With Invitation, English, British Association of Romanticism, Online, Six speakers reflect on the relationship between Romanticism and creativity as it permeates writing, teaching and research. This roundtable features a lineup of six speakers who will each give a brief talk on subjects related to their teaching and research, with an organizing theme of "creativity". "Creativity" is an incredibly broad topic, but it is something that factors into our lives in a daily capacity, as well as shaping our engagement with art and culture and our efforts to write, think, and learn more deeply about the world(s) we find ourselves in. We invite members of BARS to enjoy a lively discussion of themes related to writing and creativity, featuring academics and artists from all around the world.
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Social Activities

History as Committee Members

  1. Hiroshima Studies in English Language and Literature, 2025/09, Hiroshima Studies in English Language and Literature