Hegel

211 Pages·1973·35.921 MB·English

by  Raymond Plant

In w sama series
J. MSI.L Lb y R. J. Halliday
MACHIAVELLIy Gb.N owell-Smith
BURKEb yF rank O'Gorman
BENTHAMb yJ amesS teintrager
MARX by Michael Evans
LOCKEb y Geraint Parry
HEGEL
Raymond Plant
l.Mtur• U. PllUosoplry U.
di. Uniwnity qf Mandlmt1r
LondDn
George AllenU n&wi nL td
Ruskin House Museum Street
Firstp ublisihne1 d937
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To
JOHN Nil!MEYBR FINDLAY, MA, PHD, FBA
Profeuor Bmcritus in the University of Lem.don,
Cult Pzofasor of Moral IDd Mctaphyaicll
Pbiloeophy in the Uniftnitr of Yale
Year eas aliens af iorn eilgnand .
St.P eter
Le tlbadnemmt estloin '/a plustlang ereuu maladU
da sociltb humaina.
Simone Weil
!chis tin tier Welzut H ause, raenn es si4 Ttennt, noch
mdr, raenn es si4 begriffen hat.
Hegel
Tol iiwnM ainS treise,t one ifl ioesi ntbs ri ghstpi rit,
to inhabitt hehlJ lyci ty.
Findla y
PREFACE
This bookaros e out ofa certain dissatisfaction with Clisting com­
mc:ntarics on Hegel'swor k. Gc:nerally speaking, such commentaries
tallin totwo typcS . There is the generalstud y of his central meta ­
physical doctrines ando fhis logical writings; butstudi es of this sort,
such as Findlay's Hegel:A � tend not to be conccmtd
with acl ose analysis of how tbcsc general metaphysical views work
themselves out in his writings onparti cular modes of human apcricncc,
forenmp lc, the artistic, the political and the religious.A tthe other
c:memc there arc works, particularly on his political thinlring, which
tendto nDnimim or discount themeta physical dimension to his
theorizing. A worink this latterg enre would be Pclcynski'ses says
iD.troduc:iDg Hegel'sPolitica l Writings. The present book attempts to
steer a via 1111dia between both ofthes e trends. Itwil ls eek to deal in
some detail with his central metaphysidcaloctrin es, arguing that an
understanding ofth esedoctrin es is,pa&I Pelcynski,a n ecessary condi ­
tioofn making his writings on politicalp hilosopinhtyel ligible.
Itwas originally myin tention to pre&cc this approach with as hort
account of Hegel'sdcvclo pmcnt, but as time passedrealized I that such
an approach was inadequate. Itsc cmcd to me tobe more and more
clear in the lighoft m yunders tand ing of hisdev elopmenttha t this
period irealsly the key to the understanding ofhis mature philosophical
worandk that in addition, taken this way,on ecould not easily dis­
tinguish ameta physical ofhis work, ap hilosophical core, wlllch
centre
was then worked ouint detail inhis discussion of various modes of
c:zpcricn cc,the politicalamong them. On thecontrary ,it se ems tome
that thew hoolfHege e l'works has as ocial and apo litical dmensiion,
that his whoplehil osophyand, notm erelyhis explicitpo liticaland
social theorizing, was ar esponse to certain problinems s ocial and
politicalexperi ence. In ordteromake this thespisla usibhloew,ever ,
ithas been necessary forme todeal in somedetail with his early
unpublished writings in whithches esocial and politicalp roblarcems
diagnosed, and whichcons titute theprob lematic of his later,mature
philosophicalachievem ent. In arguing this thesis about the sotjal and
politicalcom mi tmcD. tof Hegel 'sw.h owloer Ikdo noti ntendto be
taken as providing kind of suppofrtroKar l Popperinterp'retastion
some
of Hegelin the secon dvo lume ofTM Open Sot:Uty and IuEnemin .
Conceived in ignorance ofH egel'phils oso phical achievements, Popper's
discussion ofH egel ias conjecture whichash bad in thepas t, and also
receives in the present work, afirm rcfatation. The refutation supplied
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PRBPACI
in this bookis ,ho wever , implicit-to haveexp licitlycha JJenged
Popper atea chpo intin his interpretationw ouldha ve credited bis
work with more importance than ideservest .
Although Iam aitical ofexisting commentaries on Hegelthis does
not mean thatI ha ve notl ea.med agreat dealfrom them. As the dedica·
tion ofthis voumel impliesI,am immen.'IC!y in the debt Jofo hnF indlay.
However much he wildisalp proveof the linetaken in this book, he
canno ta vothei dres ponsibility ofha ving interested me in Hegeandl
bis wordkuring amemora ble series of lectures in 1965-6w hen Iwas
as tudent ofbis in theU niversity of London. I am also deeply grateful
tom yfri endand colleague, Gcraint Parry,both forinviting me to write
thebo ok thein first plaandce forcons tant advice andcncourag cmcnt.
The historical ,con tmual approach adopted in the boookwes a good
deal to the stimulation ofPro fessor W.H .Gr eenleaf and toDr Bikhu
Parekh, both of whom were involinved thesu pervision of mygrad uate
work. Earlier drafts of chapters of this bookw ere givm as lectures to
members ofthe Socialist Society in the University of Manchester, and
Im ustr ecord with thanks the interest and the tolerance which they
showined th elc cturcs given both by andon ap hilosophern eithero f
whotheym coulhda vfeound very congenial. Myers twhile colleagues,
Anthony Arblastcr and DickA tkinson, attendedth ese talks andma de
helpfulcom ments on them. Finally,m ythanks are dueto myparents
whenaob ledme toh avane aca demic career, and tomy wife,Ka therine,
and son Nicholas, forp roviding an -mvironmmt within whichI coul d
happily pursue mywor k.
RAYMOND PLANT
N"°"""'1r 1971
IO
CONTENTS
Preface pa, e9
A Note on theT cm 13
I Civil Theology and PoliCulticalture IS
II FolkR eligion and PoliticalAnalysis 41
m Towards aP erspective onHistory 56
IV Towards theT ransfiguration of Politics 76
A System ofP hilosophical Politics
v '»
VI Reason, Reconciliation and Community 124
VD PhilosophyCom munityand 147
Transfiguration orM ystification? 184
vm
Bibliography
2'Y1
lndcc 2II

A Notoen t hTeexts
Quotations in the bookarc givenwith reference toth eG lockner Jubilee
editiono fH egel'worsks ,d epartures from this practice being necessi­
tated bythe non-inclusioofrelnevant material in thGel ockner edition,
particularly HegelsT lr4ologisdle Jugends clrriftenedl, NohlJ;enenser
Logik, Metaphysik untl Naturphilosophie, ed. Lasson; Jenenser IUal­
philosophie Iand IIed., Hoffi:neister; and Schriftenzur Politik untl
Rdtsphilo sophie,ed. Lasson.
The follwingo English translations have been consulted and in many
cases used: T.M .Knox 's translations ofp iecesin theTlrMilog iSl:M
Jugendsehriften in HegeEarrlys TMological Writings; Knox'vsers ion
of Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rdu in Hegel'Pshilo sophy ofRif ht;
Knox's translations of pieces from Schriftenzur Politik und Rldlts­
philosophie in Hegel'Pso litU:alW ritings.M yuse ofs uch translations is
here very gratefully acknowledged, buist not explicitlayckn owledged
in the text. Knox's translations ofthe earlytheo logical writings and of
Hegel'ocscasional writings on politics do not cover allthe material
which Iha ve wanted to useand taso metimes citethe German original
and ato ther times the English translation woulhad ve made already
long footnotese:nfemel y tedious andc omplicaPtaesds.qa uogested in
the bookma y,h oweverbe, easil y identified in the Englishtransla tions:
references to the TMologische Jugendschriften may be identified in
Knox's HegelEar'lys Tlr4ological Writingsbeca use Knox includes in
the body ofthe English tm: thepagina tion ofth eGerman original and
the same is true of his versioonfp arts ofS chriftenzur Poliuntltik
&chuphi/osophie in HegerPso litU:al WritingsM.y ref erences to the
Glockner edition ofGruntl linien der Philosophiedes Rdu includes a
citation of the paragraphs which arc thesame as in the Ho:trmeister
edition ofthe work on whichKn oxbased bis Hegel'sP hilosophy of
Rightan dare incluind ehisd trans lation.
A selbeictb liogriainspc hlyu adtthee den do ft hveo lumaned ful l
details ofth ewo rks citine thisd notmaey be foundth ere.
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