Hegel’s Philosophy of Right After 200 Years

Book excerpt: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1820) articulated a startling new vision of modern society as an integrated whole governed by the principle of freedom—a vision that profoundly altered political theory and, through Hegel’s influence on Marx, deeply changed the world in which we live. Yet Hegel’s thought is so notoriously obscure that it is difficult to pull together its many complex threads in order to understand what he accomplished and how he managed to do it. In this volume, leading political theorists and philosophers attempt to illuminate the impact of Hegel by looking back on the Philosophy of Right after two centuries, shedding light on some of its most controversial elements. Among the topics discussed are Hegel’s theory of bureaucracy, Marx’s critique of that theory, Hegel’s alternative to nationalism, his political cosmology, his critique of natural law, his organic idea of the good, and his view of totality. The contributors are Frederick Beiser, Shterna Friedman, Darren Nah, Frederick Neuhouser, Angelica Nuzzo, Alan Patten, Terry Pinkard, Paul Rosenberg, and Jacob Roundtree. This book was originally published as a special issue of Critical Review.