Hegel contra celebrity: the reconciliation of subject and object

This paper argues that the philosophy of Hegel exposes a fundamental and damaging bias in the field of Celebrity Studies. This bias takes the shape of privileging questions of techne over form. The dominant paradigm in the field is here called Triangulation. The paper describes this paradigm and critically evaluates it in terms of adequacy. Hegel’s concept of World Historical Individuals is discussed in order to show that the types of celebrity typically examined under the domain of Triangulation do not constitute authentic celebrity. The paper ends with a comparison of form and techne as instruments in the analysis of fame.