Modern Freedom

'0 ~{oc; ~paxuc; , ~ O£ 't£XVll ~a1(pft (Hippokrates) That life is short needs no proof when we are engaged in ambitious projects. When I began this book, almost forty years ago, I did not forsee that its completion would take such a long time, although I was well aware that some of Hegel's texts stubbornly resist a thorough deciphering of their meaning and argumenta tion. Having written a dissertation on the young Hegel's moral, political, and religious philosophy (Lejeune Hegel et la vision morale du monde, 1960'), I was asked to teach ethics, social philosophy, and philosophy of law at various universities of The Netherlands. While studying and teaching the classics of ethics and politics, I began to focus on the textbook that Hegel had written for his courses on practical philosophy: Elements of the Philosophy of Right (1820). The first result of my research was a study of the historical and philosophical context of this text (Philosophy and Politics: A Commentary on the Preface to Hegel's Philosophy of Right, 1981/1987), but the interpretation of its content proceeded slowly. While con ferences and colloquia occasioned fragments whose traces can be found in the following pages, the ramifications of Hegel's thought and the overwhelming amount of secondary literature demanded a great deal of time and attention and other interests continued to interrupt the project.

Preface. - Abbreviations. - Metaphysics? . - Philosophy and Historical Reconstruction. - Purpose. - Systematic Connections. - Student Notes. - Genetic Connections. - Sources. - Texts and Translations. - Exegesis. - Commentary. - Obscurities. - Reconstruction. - The Place of the Rechtsphilosophie. - The Historical Context. - Plan. - A Selection of Studies. - I. LOGIC. - Truth. - Reason (Vernunft) and Intellect (Verstand) (Enc A 1 3). - Aristotle on Thought. - The Identity of Thought and Being. - Onto-theo-logy. - Hegel s Logic and Its Role in His Philosophy of Right. - Comprehension. - Deduction. - Self-Determination. - Concept-Judgment-Syllogism. - Finitude and Infinity. - Sollen. - Hegel s Pantheism. - From Substance to Subject. - The Logic of the Grundlinien. - Plan and Procedure. - II. SPIRIT. - The Context of Right (Grl 1 2 and 4). - Spirit (Enc A 299 399). - Schema of the Encyclopedia. - The Abstract Concept of Spirit (Enc A 299 305). - Philosophy of Spirit (Enc A 305 307). - Phenomenology and Philosophy of Spirit (Enc A 329 362). - Consciousness (Enc A 329 334). - How Consciousness Becomes Rational (Enc A 335 363). - Interpretation of Enc A 345 362. - Spirit (Enc A 363). - The Concept of Spirit (Enc A 363 366). - The Identity of Intelligence and Will (Enc A 366 388). - III. FROM FREE WILL TO RIGHT. - The Subject Matter of the Philosophy of Right (§§ 1 2). - Natural and Positive Right (§ 3). - Spirit-Will-Right (§ 4). - The Deduction of Right in Grl 1 33 and Enc A 388 401. - The Will as Practical Reason (Enc A 386 387). - The Deduction in Grl 1 32. - Résumé (Grl 5 30). - A Schematic Overview (Grl 1 33). - Right (Grl 29 30). - Method (Grl 31 32). - Division (Grl 33). - IV. PERSON AND PROPERTY. - Immediate Right (§§ 34 39). - Sollen (§ 36). - The Foundation of Abstract Right(§ 36). - The Differentiation of Immediate Right (§ 40). - Property (§§ 41 70). - Intermezzo. - Life, Body, Property (§§ 47 48). - The Genesis of Property (§§ 49 52). - Personality and Interpersonality (§§ 49R and 51). - Rethinking Private Law (§§ 53 ff.). - Singularity or Mutuality? . - Discussion. - Appropriation (§§ 54 64). - Slavery (§§ 35R, 57R, and 66R). - V. CONTRACT AND CRIME. - Contract (§§ 71 81). - Crime and Punishment (§§ 82 103). - The Fragility of (Abstract) Right (§ 81). - VI. MORALITY. - Morality in Enc (1817) §§ 415 429. - Morality in the Grundlinien §§ 103 140. - VII. SITTLICHKEIT. - The Concept of Sittlichkeit (§ 142). - The Structure of §§ 142 156. - Analysis. - Consequences for Moral Behavior and Ethics. - Hegel s Concrete Ethics. - VIII. THE FAMILY. - Love (§§ 158 168). - Unity and Dispersion (§§ 169 172 and 178 181). - Education (§§ 173 177). - IX. SOCIETY. - Civil Society According to the Encyclopedia (BC 518 538). - X. THE STATE. - The State and The State (§§ 257 260). - The State Is Not a Contract: Part One (§§ 258R and 75). - Philosophy and History (§§ 258R and M-32). - The State Is Not a Contract: Part Two (§ 258R). - Against Historicism (§ 258R and note). - State-Family-Civil Society (§§ 261 265). - Constitution and Political Disposition (§§ 266 270). - Politics and Religion (§ 270R). - Discussion About Constitutional Law (§§ 271 ff.). - Constitution (§§ 271 273). - The People (§ 274). - The Constitutional Monarchy (§§ 265 267; 272 274). - The Rational Organization of the State (§§ 260 274). - The State Is a Monarchy (§§ 275 286). - Hereditary Monarchy (§§ 280 281). - Universality and Particularity of the Monarch (§§ 283 286). - The Monarch According to the Course of1817 18. - The Government (Regierungsgewalt, §§ 287 297). - The Legislative Power (§§ 298 314). - The Democratic Element (§§ 301 303). - The Political Function of the Stände (§§ 303 314). - Actuality and Reform. - Public Opinion (§§ 315 319). - Freedom of the Press (§ 319). - The State is a Conclusion of Conclusions. - The Sovereign Nation State (§§ 320 329). - XI. INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. - The International Order (§§ 330 333). - War (§§ 334 339). - Humanity and the Nations (§§ 336 337). - Wartime Law (§§ 338 339). - Transition to World History (§ 340). - XII. WORLD HISTORY. - Weltgeschichte (§§ 341 342). - History and Wisdom (§ 343). - The Nations (§§ 344 351). - World-Historical Individuals (§ 348). - Nation-States and Other Peoples (§§ 349 351). - Four Realms (§§ 352 360). - XIII. ETHICS AND RELIGION. - The State Knows What It Wills (§§ 257 270). - Religion (Enc A 453 471). - Religion and State (Grl 270R). - The Principle of Protestantism (Preface, §270R). - National State and Universal Religion. - Freedom of Religion? (§ 270R). - EPILOGUE. - The Nation State. - Individuals. - In tersubjectivity. - Nationalism and Humanity. - Right and Love. - Perfection and Imperfection. - Spirit as Self-Appropriation. - Tasks.