Logic

Abstract

Hegel’s philosophy of “right” encompasses various disciplines: philosophy of law, moral philosophy, philosophy of family life, philosophical economics, political philosophy, and philosophy of world history. All these disciplines are so intimately connected that they cannot be developed in isolation from one another, but their unfolding also presupposes a host of concepts and procedures that cannot be justified within these disciplines. Hegel himself indicates two main groups of such assumptions: (1) those concerning the method (i.e., the logic or form) of philosophy, and (2) those concerning the issues (the specific content) that must have been comprehended before the various concepts and realities of “right” can be clarified.¹The priority of these assumptions places the interpreter of Hegel’s Rechtsphilosophie in a difficult position. While Hegel’s Logic is an attempt to justify the first group of assumptions, it is not clear that Hegel himself was fully aware of all his own logical assumptions. Furthermore, one must ask how a study of his philosophy of right can also offer sufficient explanation of the material that is contained in the three volumes of his Wissenschaft der Logik.²