Elements of the Philosophy of Right SECTION 1 Property § 41 The person must give himself an external sphere of freedom in order to have being as Idea.1 The person is the infinite will, the will which has being in and for itself, in this first and as yet wholly abstract determination. Consequently, this sphere distinct from the will, which may constitute the sphere of its freedom, is likewise… Read the rest of this passage →

Elements of the Philosophy of Right Introduction § 1 The subject-matter of the philosophical science of right is the Idea of right – the concept of right and its actualization.1 Philosophy has to do with Ideas and therefore not with what are commonly described as mere concepts. On the contrary, it shows that the latter are one-sided and lacking in truth, and that it is the concept alone (not…

Elements of the Philosophy of Right SECTION 3 The Good and the Conscience § 129 The good is the Idea, as the unity of the concept of the will and the particular will, in which abstract right, welfare, the subjectivity of knowing, and the contingency of external existence [Dasein], as self-sufficient for themselves, are superseded; but they are at the same time essentially contained and… Read the rest of this passage →

Elements of the Philosophy of Right § 301 The role [Bestimmung] of the Estates is to bring the universal interest [Angelegenheit] into existence [Existenz] not only in itself but also for itself, i.e. to bring into existence the moment of subjective formal freedom, the public consciousness as the empirical universality of the views and thoughts of the many. The expression ‘the many’ (οἱ…

Hegel's Philosophy of History Hegel’s Philosophy of History Part I: The Oriental World We have to begin with the Oriental World, but not before the period in which we discover States in it. The diffusion of Language and the formation of races lie beyond the limits of History. History is prose, and myths fall short of History. The consciousness of external definite existence only arises in…

Hegel's Philosophy of History Hegel’s Philosophy of History Part IV: The German World. The German Spirit is the Spirit of the new World. Its aim is the realization of absolute Truth as the unlimited self-determination of Freedom – that Freedom which has its own absolute form itself as its purport. The destiny of the German peoples is, to be the bearers of the Christian principle. The principle…

Hegel's Philosophy of History Hegel Philosophy of History. Introduction. The subject of this course of Lectures is the Philosophical History of the World. And by this must be understood, not a collection of general observations respecting it, suggested by the study of its records, and proposed to be illustrated by its facts, but Universal History itself. To gain a clear idea, at the outset,…

Hegel's Philosophy of History Hegel’s Philosophy of History Part II: The Greek World Among the Greeks we feel ourselves immediately at home, for we are in the region of Spirit; and though the origin of the nation, as also its philological peculiarities, may be traced farther – even to India – the proper Emergence, the true Palingenesis of Spirit must be looked for in Greece first. At an…