Hegel's Philosophy of Right
Term:
Fall 2010
Subject Code:
GPHI
Course Number:
6587
The book that we will read in this course bears a complex
title: Philosophy of Right or Outline of
Natural Law and Theory of the State. Hegel’s philosophy of “right” is thus
meant to include, even to integrate, two different realms: “natural law” as
referring to what is right for everybody and “theory of the state” as referring
to the political organization of society. Hegel’s philosophy of right is ethics
and political theory at the same time. With this, two questions have to be
addressed. The first question refers to Hegel’s concept of ‘ethical life’
(‘Sittlichkeit’), which is meant to provide an account of practical normativity
that is able to avoid the “paradox of autonomy” in Kantian theories. The second
question refers to Hegel’s concept of the “state,” which aims at developing a
theory of political self-government that is able to contain the destructive
power of the capitalist economy. Both questions will be addressed in the course
in the context of contemporary appropriations of Hegel’s arguments and against
the background of a synoptic reading of
Fichte’s Foundations of Natural Right.
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