Abstract

This dissertation uses Hegel's political thought to work through several problems of identity and difference ranging from discrimination against individuals, to the inclusion of social identity groups in formal institutions, to the association of state power and national identity. I argue that the foundational problem which gives rise to these issues is a paradoxical relationship between identity and freedom. On the one hand, identities constrain freedom, as in discrimination for example. On the other hand, identities are necessary forgiving us horizons for judgment, social forms of meaning and institutional structures which make the exercise of freedom meaningful. Finally, there is a third issue which makes the relationship even more complex: the value we place on modern freedom is crucially connected to identity. Freedom gives us the space and opportunity to develop ourselves in accord with certain plans and priorities, the space for us to forge our own identities. Hegel is deeply attentive to the complex and paradoxical character of the relationship between freedom and identity in his concept of the person, his concept of freedom and the account of social life they ground. Reinterpreting Hegel's political thought with the relationship between identity and freedom as a focus, reveals the theoretical tensions underlying contemporary problems of the "politics of difference" and uncovers constructive solutions to them. Most importantly, Hegel's thought inspires us to affirm a model in which identity and its political significance are context dependent. For example, in the context of feminism's project of liberation, this framework leads me to a critical appraisal of the demands for recognition of difference promoted by gynocentric feminism as either a solution for sexism or as a mode of social criticism; however, in the context of nationalist demands in the liberal state my view gives cautious endorsement to claims for the recognition of differences material to the realization of local forms of the rule of law. Overall, this Hegel-inspired approach provides a way for us to live through, rather than in, the paradox of identity and freedom