Philosophy 290-6

Hegel’s Philosophy of Right contains a comprehensive statement of his mature political philosophy. It is also one of the best introductions into Hegel’s thinking as a whole. The Philosophy of Right begins with reflections on the concepts of freedom and the human person and proceeds from there, in a second part, to a discussion of morality, and then, in part 3, to a detailed examination of the family, civil society, and finally the state. Throughout the work, Hegel’s view is developmental and historical. The text ends therefore appropriately with a politically oriented view at “world history.” The goal of the seminar is a careful reading of crucial sections of Hegel’s text. It will be preceded by a discussion of two related texts: Kant’s essay “Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View” and Hegel’s own “Reason in History” (the introduction to his Lectures on the Philosophy of History). The seminar will conclude with a discussion of Karl Marx’s critical notes on the Philosophy of Right.

Text: G.W.F. Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, translated by H.B. Nisbet, edited by Allen Wood, Cambridge University Press