The greater part of this dissertation provides a textual analysis of Hegel's Elements of the Philosophy of Right in terms of two dialectics of institutional phenomenology of freedom in the modern constitutional nation-state. These two dialectics together structure politics as the intermediary action that holds together the distinct institutions of state and civil society through a process of education in individual self-consciousness that is necessary for the informed action that unifies modern ethics altogether as political spirit. In this sense Hegel's text served as an argument for modern political institutions in post-Napoleonic Germany, but in another sense the text reveals Hegel's awareness of the dangers of modern political institutions as they contain the possibility of democratic revolution, and, as Hegel thought political and religious fanaticism - dangers which he simultaneously tried to deny for the sake of instituting a modern constitution altogether. Following the analysis of Hegel, Marx is interpreted in his "Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right" to be pointing out the inevitable democratic politics that would result not only from the Hegelian idea of the modern state as a whole, but from the particular institutional politics that are involved with organizing the constitutional nation-state at each intermediary level of political action. In the last chapter Tocqueville's Democracy in America and The Federalist Papers are interpreted as being concerned with the same dialectic analysis and problems as Hegel and Marx, which sets up the conclusion of this dissertation, wherein, it is argued that the problematics of institutionalized democratic political spirit can be seen as animating American political development at key moments of institutional and cultural change (the Progressive era and the Sixties). This argument is advanced by a deeper methodological analysis about the dialectics of political democracy, based on Hegel and Marx, which theoretically organizes different sorts of institutional and political action into 6 different 'logics' - which, it is argued, have acted and interacted in such a way to bring about those changes in American political history.

This book is a translation of a classic work of modern social and political thought, Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Hegel's last major published work, is an attempt to systematize ethical theory, natural right, the philosophy of law, political theory and the sociology of the modern state into the framework of Hegel's philosophy of history. Hegel's work has been interpreted in radically different ways, influencing many political movements from far right to far left, and is widely perceived as central to the communication tradition in modern ethical, social and political thought. This edition includes extensive editorial material informing the reader of the historical background of Hegel's text, and explaining his allusions to Roman law and other sources, making use of lecture materials which have only recently become available. The new translation is literal, readable and consistent, and will be informative and scholarly enough to serve the needs of students and specialists alike.

In this 1821 classic, Hegel applies his most important concept — the dialectics — to law, rights, morality, the family, economics, and the state. The philosopher defines universal right as the synthesis between the thesis of an individual acting in accordance with the law and the occasional conflict of an antithetical desire to follow private convictions.

In The Vitality of Contradiction, Bruce Gilbert provides an exposition of Hegel's political philosophy to establish not only that societies fail because of their contradictions, but also how the unsurpassable oppositions of social life cultivate freedom. He moves beyond Hegel's works to consider the limits of liberal-capitalism and the contemporary social movements around the world that stretch us beyond the global economic system. Drawing on key Hegel texts such as Phenomenology of Spirit and the Philosophy of Right, Gilbert shows how societies outgrow themselves as they come to recognize key aspects of freedom and justice. He argues that the dialectic requires that we recognize how liberal-capitalism has both cultivated freedom and yet fails to lead us to more sophisticated forms of freedom. Gilbert also highlights organizations including Brazil's Movement of Landless Workers and the Mondragon cooperative in Spain and the sophisticated ways in which they are teaching the world new and better ways to be free. Engaging and perceptive, The Vitality of Contradiction illuminates the basic principles behind Hegel's political thought and indicates the ways in which his work encourages people to strive for a form of socialist democracy.

A series of original essays exploring the key themes of Hegel's seminal work, Elements of the Philosophy of Right.