Abstract

Inquiring about the quality of our lives represents a fundamental component of our self-understanding, both as individuals and as a society. This implies the possibility of describing and evaluating our development with reference both to the material living conditions in which we are and to the opportunities we have to realize ourselves. But to do this, it is important to answer preliminarily two central questions, namely: (a) in what does an individual’s self-realization consist?, and (b) how does society relate to it? The aim of this contribution is to answer these two questions by appealing to Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right. In doing so, I will attempt to show that this work allows us to deal effectively with the problem of the relationship between individual realization and social unity. By highlighting some affinities between Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and Amartya Sen’s capability approach, I will finally outline Hegel’s contribution to a social philosophy focused on the problem of human development.