PLEASE NOTE this is a sample reading list for the 2015-16 academic year
– precise seminar content may change from year to year.
SEMINAR TOPICS, QUESTIONS & READING
Week 2
Topics: Diverging interpretations of the political standpoint of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right; the
Doppelsatz; philosophy’s role of comprehending reality rather than instigating social and political
change
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Preface (pp. 9-23)
Supplementary reading: G. W. F. Hegel, The Encyclopaedia Logic, trans. T. F. 5
Gereats, W. A. Suchting and H. S. Harris (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1991), § 6
Selected further reading:
Avineri, Shlomo, Hegel’s Theory of the Modern State (Cambridge University Press, 1972), Chapter 6
Franco, Paul, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), Chapter 4
Hardimon, Michael, Hegel’s Social Philosophy: The Project of Reconciliation (Cambridge University
Press, 1994), Chapters 2, 3 and 4
Haym, Rudolf, ‘Extract from Hegel and his Times (1857)’, in Robert Stern (ed.) G. W. F. Hegel Critical
Assessments (London: Routledge, 1993), Volume I, pp. 217240
Knowles, Dudley, The Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Hegel and the Philosophy of Right (London:
Routledge, 2002), Chapter 3
Peperzak, Adriaan, Philosophy and Politics: A Commentary on the Preface to Hegel’s Philosophy of
Right (Dordrecht: Nijhoff, 1987)
Stern, Robert, ‘Hegel’s Doppelsatz: A Neutral Reading’, Journal of the History of Philosophy 44(2)
(2006)
Questions: Does the Preface to the Elements of the Philosophy of Right imply an anti-liberal or protototalitarian standpoint? What does Hegel mean by the claim that, ‘What is rational is actual; and
what is actual is rational’? Does Hegel’s claim that philosophy’s task is to ‘comprehend what is’
signal his hostility to attempts to transform social and political conditions? Is Hegel right to suggest
that philosophy is limited by its own historical horizons?
Week 3
Topics: The concept of right (Recht); Hegel’s theory of the will; right as the ‘existence’ of the free will
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Introduction §§ 1-33
Selected further reading:
Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 5
Honneth, Axel, The Pathologies of Individual Freedom: Hegel’s Social Theory (Princeton University
Press, 2010), Chapter 1
James, David, Rousseau and German Idealism: Freedom, Dependence and Necessity (Cambridge
University Press, 2013), Chapter 4, pp. 143-156.
Knowles, Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Chapter 2
Patten, Alan, Hegel’s Idea of Freedom (Oxford University Press, 1999), Chapter 2 Riedel, Manfred,
Between Tradition and Revolution: The Hegelian Transformation of Political Philosophy, trans. W.
Wright (Cambridge University Press, 1984), Chapter 3
Riedel, Manfred, ‘Nature and Freedom in Hegel’s Philosophy of Right’, in Z. A. Pelczynski (ed.) Hegel’s
Political Philosophy: Problems and Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1971)
Wood, Allen W., Hegel’s Ethical Thought (Cambridge University Press, 1990), Chapters 1, 2 and 3
Questions: What does Hegel mean by ‘right’? How does Hegel explain freedom of the will? What are
the different types of freedom that Hegel identifies? What is the relation between right and
freedom?
Week 4
Topics: Personality; property as the first ‘existence’ of the free will; the problem of slavery; Hegel’s
justification of private property
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, §§ 34-71
Selected further reading:
Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 6, pp. 188-207
Knowles, Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Chapters 4 and 5
Quante, Michael, ‘“The Personality of the Will” as the Principle of Abstract Right: An Analysis of
§§34-40 of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right in Terms of the Logical Structure of the Concept’, in Robert B.
Pippin and Otfried Höffe (eds.) Hegel on Ethics and Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Patten, Hegel’s Idea of Freedom, Chapter 5
Ritter, Joachim, ‘Person and Property in Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (§§34-81)’, in Pippin and Höffe
(eds.) Hegel on Ethics and Politics
Waldron, Jeremy, The Right to Private Property (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), Chapter 10
Williams, Robert R., Hegel’s Ethics of Recognition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997),
Chapter 7
Wood, Hegel’s Ethical Thought, Chapters 4 and 5
Questions: What does Hegel mean by ‘personality’? In what sense is right ‘abstract’ in the first part
of the Elements of the Philosophy of Right? Why is property the first form in which the free will
exists? Are Hegel’s views on slavery consistent with his account of personality? Does Hegel offer a
convincing justification of private property?
Week 5
Topics: Moral subjectivity; subjective freedom; welfare; the moral will; conscience
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, §§ 105-141
Supplementary reading: (On Hegel’s critique of Kantian morality) Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit,
trans. A. V. Miller (Oxford University Press, 1977), pp. 256-262, section entitled ‘Reason as Testing
Laws’.
Selected further reading:
Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 6, pp. 207-220 James, Rousseau and German
Idealism, Chapter 4, pp. 156-163 Knowles, Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Chapter 7 and 8
Sedgwick, Sally, ‘Hegel on the Empty Formalism of Kant’s Categorical
Imperative’, in Stephen Houlgate and Michael Baur (eds.), A Companion to Hegel
(Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011)
Williams, Hegel’s Ethics of Recognition, Chapter 9
Wood, Hegel’s Ethical Thought, Chapters 7, 8, 9 and 10
Questions: What are the essential differences between the person of abstract right and the moral
subject? What particular forms of self-determination does Hegel identify with the moral standpoint?
What is ‘subjective freedom’? Why does Hegel think that welfare is an essential moment of right?
Why does Hegel object to the Kantian conception of duty? How does conscience become evil?
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7
Topics: Ethical life; the family
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, §§ 142-160, §§ 163-164, § 170, § 175, §§
177-178, § 181
Selected further reading:
Blasche, Siegfried, ‘Natural Ethical Life and Civil Society: Hegel’s Construction of
the Family’, in Pippin and Höffe (eds.) Hegel on Ethics and Politics
Buchwalter, Andrew, Dialectics, Politics, and the Contemporary Value of Hegel’s
Practical Philosophy (New York/London: Routledge, 2012), Chapter 8
Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 6, pp. 220-233 and Chapter 7, pp.
234-249
Hardimon, Hegel’s Social Philosophy, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6, pp. 174-189
Honneth, Axel, The Pathologies of Individual Freedom, Chapters 2 and 3
Knowles, Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Chapters 9 and 10
Neuhouser, Frederick, Foundations of Hegel’s Social Theory: Actualizing Freedom (Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, 2000), Chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
Siep, Ludwig, ‘The “Aufhebung” of Morality in Ethical Life’, in L. Stepelevich and
D. Lamb (eds.) Hegel’s Philosophy of Action (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities
Press, 1983)
Taylor, Charles, Hegel (Cambridge University Press, 1975), Chapter 14
Williams, Hegel’s Ethics of Recognition, Chapter 10
Wood, Hegel’s Ethical Thought, Chapters 11 and 12
Questions: What does Hegel mean by ethical life? How does ethical life incorporate the moments of
abstract right and morality? Does Hegel’s theory of ethical life entail blind obedience to the laws and
institutions of the political community to which one just happens to belong? Is Hegel justified in
speaking of the type of duty which he associates with ethical life as a form of freedom? How does
the institution of the family exemplify Hegel’s conception of ethical life?
Week 8
Topics: Civil society as the ‘state of necessity’; need-generation and need-satisfaction; the educative
function of civil society; poverty; the corporation
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, §§ 182-210, §§ 229-256
Selected further reading:
Avineri, Hegel’s Theory of the Modern State, Chapter 7
Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 7, pp. 234-236 and 249-277
Hardimon, Hegel’s Social Philosophy, Chapter 6, pp. 189-205 and Chapter 7, pp.
236-250
Horstmann, Rolf-Peter, ‘The Role of Civil Society in Hegel’s Political Philosophy’,
in Pippin and Höffe (eds.) Hegel on Ethics and Politics
Ilting, K. H., ‘The Dialectic of Civil Society’ in Z. A. Pelzcynski (ed.), The State and
Civil Society: Studies in Hegel’s Political Philosophy (Cambridge University Press,
1984); reprinted in in Robert Stern (ed.) G. W. F. Hegel Critical Assessments
(London: Routledge, 1993), Volume IV, pp. 274-292
James, Rousseau and German Idealism, Chapter 4, pp. 163-193
Knowles, Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Chapters 11 and 12
Riedel, Between Tradition and Revolution: The Hegelian Transformation of
Political Philosophy, Chapter 6
Ruda, Frank, Hegel’s Rabble: An Investigation into Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
(London: Continuum, 2011)
Williams, Hegel’s Ethics of Recognition, Chapter 11
Wood, Hegel’s Ethical Thought, Chapter 14
Questions: Why does Hegel call civil society the ‘state of necessity’? In what sense (if any) does civil
society actualise human freedom? Why is the concept of needs central to Hegel’s theory of civil
society? How does civil society educate individuals? What are the implications of Hegel’s views on
poverty and the rabble for his theory of modern ethical life? Does the corporation provide a solution
to the problem of poverty?
Week 9
Topics: The transition from civil society to the state; Hegel’s theory of the state; the relation
between religion and the state
Main reading: Hegel, Elements of the Philosophy of Right, §§ 256-274
Supplementary reading: (on religion and the state): G.W.F. Hegel, ‘Address on the Tercentenary of
the Submission of the Augsburg Confession (25 June 1830)’, ‘The Relationship of Religion to the
State (1831)’, and ‘Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1827-1831), Part IV, Section 3: The New
Age’, in Political Writings, ed. L. Dickey and H. B. Nisbet (Cambridge University Press, 1999)
Further reading:
Avineri, Hegel’s Theory of the Modern State, Chapters 8 and 9
Buchwalter, Dialectics, Politics, and the Contemporary Value of Hegel’s Practical
Philosophy, Chapter 9
Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy of Freedom, Chapter 8
Hardimon, Hegel’s Social Philosophy, Chapter 6, pp. 205-227
Jaeschke, Walter, ‘Christianity and Secularity in Hegel’s Concept of the State’, The
Journal of Religion 61(2) (1981); reprinted in in Stern (ed.) G. W. F. Hegel Critical
Assessments, Volume IV, pp. 461-478
Knowles, Hegel and the Philosophy of Right, Chapter 13
Patten, Hegel’s Idea of Freedom, Chapters 4 and 6
Pelczynski, Z. B. ‘The Hegelian Conception of the State’, in Pelczynski (ed.) Hegel’s
Political Philosophy
Siep, Ludwig, ‘Constitution, Fundamental Rights, and Social Welfare in Hegel’s
Philosophy of Right’, in Pippin and Höffe (eds.) Hegel on Ethics and Politics
Williams, Hegel’s Ethics of Recognition, Chapters 12 and 13
Questions: Does Hegel offer a convincing account of the transition from civil society to the state?
Why does Hegel speak of the state as ‘the actuality of the ethical Idea’? Does Hegel end up basing
the state on the Christian religion?
Week 10
Topics: Marx’s critique of Hegel’s theory of the state
Main reading: ‘From the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1843)’ and ‘A Contribution to the
Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right: Introduction’, in Karl Marx, Early Political Writings, pp. 1-27
and pp. 57-70
Selected further reading:
Avineri, Shlomo, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx (Cambridge
University Press, 1968), Chapters 1 and 2
Berki, R. N., ‘Perspectives in the Marxian Critique of Hegel’s Political Philosophy’, in Pelczynski (ed.)
Hegel’s Political Philosophy
Duquette, David, ‘Marx’s Idealist Critique of Hegel’s Theory of Society and Politics’ The Review of
Politics 51(2) (1989)
Leopold, David, The Young Karl Marx: German Philosophy, Modern Politics, and Human Flourishing
(Cambridge University Press, 2007), Chapter 2 and Chapter 4, pp. 245-254
Ilting, K. H., ‘Hegel’s Concept of the State and Marx’s Early Critique’, in Pelzcynski (ed.), The State
and Civil Society
Questions: Why does Marx think that Hegel’s theory of the state involves mystification? Why does
Marx describe state bureaucracy as the ‘illusion of the state’? What role does the division between
civil society and the state play in Marx’s critique of Hegel’s theory of the state? Why, according to
Marx, must the critique of religion be followed by social and political criticism? What role does Marx
think the proletariat will play in human history?
Selected further reading for the lecture in week 10:
Avineri, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx, Chapter 2
Buchanan, Allen E., Marx and Justice: The Radical Critique of Liberalism (London:
Methuen, 1982), Chapters 3 and 4
Elster, An Introduction to Karl Marx, Chapter 5
Leopold, The Young Karl Marx, Chapter 3
Plamenatz, John, Karl Marx’s Philosophy of Man, Chapter 11
Wood, Karl Marx, Chapter 9