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Abstract
This dissertation is a three-part examination of Hegel's political thought in the context of his philosophy as a whole. Part One explicates the nature and value of a holistic, or "systematic," approach to Hegel's practical philosophy. First considered is the conflict between traditional approaches to Hegelian political thought and Hegel's own "systematic" directives concerning his work's proper reading. Some of the difficulties resulting from non-systematic approaches are then analyzed. Following a discussion of the contemporary significance of a systematic reading, the question is posed whether Hegel's approach to philosophical historiography is applicable to his own work.
Part Two clarifies the normative status of Hegel's practical philosophy. First, against Theodor Adorno's interpretation, it is argued that, understood in terms of his logical theory, Hegel's identity of reason and reality is not an expression of an apologetic attitude toward existing reality but instead is part of a critical and indeed utopian approach to it. Second, it is claimed that, "logically" interpreted, the "science of necessity" central to Hegel's Realphilosophie expresses, not acceptance of blind fate, but commitment to a normative ontology infused with an emphatic concept of freedom. In neither case is it denied that Hegel's Realphilosophie seeks to "comprehend what is." It is argued only that, for Hegel, the aims of normative theory are best realized when focused on existing reality.
Part Three considers Hegel's political thought in the context of his Philosophy of Spirit--specifically, the Theory of Objective Spirit, which is defined as the "unity of theoretical and practical of reason." It is demonstrated that, in opposition to Aristotle's non-theoretical approach to politics, Hegel stands squarely within the modern tradition of a scientific approach to politics. Unlike many modern thinkers, however, Hegel adopts theoretical procedures not to dismiss but to "rehabilitate" the classical doctrine of politics. In the modern world, Aristotelian insights like the interrelationship of fact and value, ethics and politics, individual and community, are revivable only with theoretical tools foreign to Aristotle's own approach. Hegel's scientific Aristotelianism is delineated with reference to Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Spinoza, Kant, Fichte, Marx and Habermas.
