Basic lines of the philosophy of law

The basic lines of the philosophy of law or natural law and political science in the Grundrisse are a work of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel published in October 1820 . It was originally intended to serve as an accompanying textbook to Hegel's lectures on legal philosophy at Berlin University. It is regarded as the central representation of Hegel's philosophy of the objective mind, alongside the corresponding section of his encyclopedia and various lecture notes.

What Hegel defines under “philosophy of law” corresponds to the content of what he calls “objective spirit”, that is, the realization of free will in the realm of the social. The term “right” is very broad and includes everything that, as a system of general norms, enables mutually appreciative individuals to live together and, according to Hegel's view, only enables freedom of will to be realized. Correspondingly, the basic concept of the basic lines is that of the "existence of free will", the conceptual development of which within the Hegelian system stands at the end of the philosophy of subjective mind . This existence has three elements: the “abstract law” (corresponds to what is generally understood under natural law ), the “morality” (that is, of supposedly autonomous action) and the “morality”, that is to say, social orders in which the human right options for action are specifically given. Central is the representation of a political order in which for Hegel freedom is fully realized.

preface

The preface is one of the well-known Hegel texts, which v. a. thanks to the following epigram .

epigram

“What is reasonable is real; and what is real is sensible. "

- Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts , Frankfurt am Main 1972, p. 11

Reason and reality are expressly equated. The real is reasonable because it emerged from its concept. The rational is real because it is the constant in existence. Conversely, not everything that exists is also reasonable. There is much in the existing that is subject to chance or human will. The accidental and arbitrary, however, do not correspond to the concept.

Minerva's owl

In the preface, Hegel also expresses himself on the relationship of philosophers to social reality and thus gives a further explanation of the above quote:

“If philosophy paints its gray in gray, then a figure of life has grown old, and with gray in gray it cannot be rejuvenated, but only recognized; Minerva's owl does not begin its flight until dawn. "

- Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts , Frankfurt am Main 1986, p. 28

The Roman goddess Minerva as well as the Greek Athena were the guardians of wisdom and had the bird of wisdom, the nocturnal owl , as a mythological attribute . According to this metaphor, knowledge of social relationships is only possible after their reality has unfolded. The knowledge thus includes a period , and not the reasons for it about.

Many interpretations therefore see Hegel's early work, which also includes legal philosophy, as a departure from the earlier position that philosophy should establish a new epoch.

Content structure of the work

Hegel's legal philosophy has a three-part structure that is typical of many of his works.

Stage of the idea	Moments of the idea	More detailed provisions
The abstract law	The property	Possession, use, alienation
	The contract
	The injustice	Unprejudiced injustice, fraud, crime
The morality	The resolution and the guilt
	The intention and the good
	The good and the conscience
the morality	The family	Marriage, wealth, upbringing
	The Civil Society	System of needs, administration of justice, police
	The state	Internal and external constitutional law, world history

literature

GWF Hegel: Basic lines of the philosophy of law. Natural law and political science , edited and introduced by Helmut Reichelt, Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main (1972), ISBN 3-548-02929-9 .
Karl Marx : On the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Law , 1843-1844
Shlomo Avineri : Hegel's theory of the modern state , Cambridge University Press, London (1972), ISBN 0-521-08513-6 .
- German: Hegel's theory of the modern state , from the English by R. u. R. Wiggershaus , Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main (1976), ISBN 3-518-07746-5 .
Dieter Wolf : Hegel's theory of civil society Hamburg, 1980, ISBN 3-87975-182-X
Eugène Fleischmann : La philosophie politique de Hegel sous forme d'un commentaire des Fondements de la philosophie du droit , Plon, Paris (1964).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ The original title page bears the year 1821 because Hegel feared that the publication would be delayed due to the censorship. Cf. Christian Topp, Philosophy as Science , Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982, p. XX.
↑ In German in 1821 the Latin name "Minerva" was more common.
↑ Uwe Wesel : History of the law. From the early forms to the present . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-47543-4 . Marg. 344.

[1] The original title page bears the year 1821 because Hegel feared that the publication would be delayed due to the censorship. Cf. Christian Topp, Philosophy as Science , Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982, p. XX.

[2] In German in 1821 the Latin name "Minerva" was more common.

[Wesel-3] Uwe Wesel : History of the law. From the early forms to the present . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-47543-4 . Marg. 344.