Outlines of the Philosophy of Right

I read this book for a class on the philosophy of law. The German philosopher, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his book "The Philosophy of Right" has a keen observation on the subject of how constitutions are formulated. "A constitution is not something that is just made; it is the labor of centuries, it is the idea, the consciousness of rationality, so far as that consciousness is developed within a particular people" (214). Hegel observes that the danger in judges relying on constitutional comparativism (judges referring to foreign law in interpreting a nation's own laws and or constitution), is that the judge is probably not fully conversant on the surrounding history and jurisprudence involved in a particular foreign ruling. Hegel makes a very prescient observation relating to judges who have resorted to constitutional comparativism in their written opinions when adjudicating cases before them. Hegel is skeptical of the methodology used by judges who refer to foreign law in interpreting a nation's laws. Hegel understands that in a democracy, laws and constitutions are an outgrowth of a group of people who share common customs and values. Recommended reading for those interested in philosophy, history, and political science.

Along with J. G. Fichte and F. W. J. von Schelling, Hegel (1770-1831) belongs to the period of "German idealism" in the decades following Kant. The most systematic of the post-Kantian idealists, Hegel attempted, throughout his published writings as well as in his lectures, to elaborate a comprehensive and systematic ontology from a "logical" starting point. He is perhaps most well-known for his teleological account of history, an account which was later taken over by Marx and "inverted" into a materialist theory of an historical development culminating in communism. For most of the twentieth century, the "logical" side of Hegel's thought had been largely forgotten, but his political and social philosophy continued to find interest and support. However, since the 1970s, a degree of more general philosophical interest in Hegel's systematic thought has also been revived. Like the Science of Logic, the Encyclopaedia of the Philosophical Sciences is itself divided into three parts: a Logic; a Philosophy of Nature; and a Philosophy of Spirit. The same triadic pattern in the Philosophy of Spirit results in the philosophies of subjective spirit, objective spirit, and absolute spirit. The first of these constitutes Hegel's philosophy of mind, the last, his philosophy of art, religion, and philosophy itself. The philosophy of objective spirit concerns the objective patterns of social interaction and the cultural institutions within which "spirit" is objectified. The book entitled Elements of the Philosophy of Right which Hegel published as a textbook for his lectures at Berlin essentially corresponds to a more developed version of the section on "Objective Spirit" in the Philosophy of Spirit. The Philosophy of Right (as it is more commonly called) can, and has been, read as a political philosophy which stands independently of the system, but it is clear that Hegel intended it to be read against the background of the developing conceptual determinations of the Logic. The text proper starts from the conception of a singular willing subject (grasped from its own first-person point of view) as the bearer of "abstract right." While this conception of the individual willing subject with some kind of fundamental right is in fact the starting point of many modern political philosophies (such as that of Locke, for example) the fact that Hegel commences here does not testify to any ontological assumption that the consciously willing and right-bearing individual is the basic atom from which all society can be understood as constructed -- an idea at the heart of standard "social contract" theories. Rather, this is merely the most "immediate" starting point of Hegel's presentation and corresponds to analogous starting places of the Logic. Just as the categories of the Logic develop in a way meant to demonstrate that what had at the start been conceived as simple is in fact only made determinate in virtue of its being part of some larger structure or process, here too

Well first off a bit about Hegel: It was, until recently, quite fashionable in English speaking coutries to dismiss Hegel as a charlatan, an apologist for totalitarianism, and an embarassment to the title of philosopher. That's changing, and I tend to think it's for the good. There's a good bit of nonsense in Hegel, but there's also some very important philosophy. The problem with not dismissing Hegel is that he's one of the most difficult philosophers to make sense of; there are passages, and perhaps entire books, of Hegel's that no one honestly understands. Luckily, the "Elements Philosophy of Right" is not only one of the easier of Hegel's books to read (easy being a relative term), but also the most relevant for the general reader. Since Hegel is speaking of concrete institutions he's much easier to follow here than in most other works. Also, I tend to agree with Wood that Hegel's main contribution to philosophy is in the field of ethics and political philosophy, and this book is the best summation of Hegel's ethical theory.Okay enough about Hegel, onto this edition of the POR. This edition is great, and anyone who's had the misfortune of readng its predecessors will appreciate just how great. For one thing, the translation is good. Yes Hegel is tough to read, but not as hard to read as many English speaking people think; the English translations are generally terrible. This edition also has Hegel's notes on the work on the same page with what he initially published, unlike other editions, which generally put them at the end. In the earlier editions one had to either turn back and forth constantly, or skip the notes, and one shouldn't skip them because rather than being mere footnotes these notes tend to explain or expand upon the point Hegel is making in rather crucial ways. Probably the best thing about this edition is Allen Wood's excellent introduction, which does an admirable job of clearly summarizing the main theses of this difficult work, while putting Hegel into historical perspective and explaining the continuing relevance of his ethical theory.

This is an excellent 1967 translation of the classic 1821 book written by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. The book is unabridged and offers the reader a view into the monumental system developed by Hegel in the 19th Century. Although the "continental philosophy" of Hegel is now out of fashion in scholastic/philosophical circles in the United States, (abandoned, in large part, for the "analytic philosophy" of Rudolf Carnap), this book offers the reader a chance to see Hegel applying his most important concept--the dialectics--to law, rights, morality, the family, economic life and the state. Universal right is defined as the synthesis of the conflict and struggle between the thesis of a person acting in accordance with the law and the (sometimes) antithesis of the person's desire to act in accordance with thier own convictions. The State is must mold itself to allow individuals to satisfy the demands of both, in order to bring about harmony and prosperity in human society--the perfect synthesis.