Abstract

This dissertation examines Hegel's political theory as presented in his Philosophy of Right. In addition, it examines his early religious fragments, his Natural Law essay and the Jena Lectures. The dissertation points out that Hegel's analysis of Aristotelian political theory and modern contract theory in these earlier works contributed to his political theory as it appeared in the Philosophy of Right. ;The dissertation argues that Hegel's idea of the state which he presented in the Philosophy of Right can be read as the idea of community in the tradition of Aristotle's idea of community as presented in the Nicomachean Ethics and Politics. From its examination of these earlier texts, the dissertation interprets the Philosophy of Right as a modernized version of Aristotle's practical system. The dissertation claims that the life experienced by the members of Hegel's ethical community, which he calls Sittlichkeit in the Philosophy of Right, was intended as the modern version of life experienced by the members of Aristotle's ethical community, called politeuein by Hegel. ;The dissertation points out that Hegel's idea of community, which rejected the social contract as the basis of political theory, nevertheless incorporated elements of the modern contract theory into its theory of the state. These modified ideas, borrowed from contract theories, were made acceptable by Hegel's interpretation and use of the concept of the "person." Hegel claims his political theory is superior to both the Aristotelian and the contract traditions. This dissertation points out some critical weaknesses in Hegel's theory and concludes that his system generates problems that it intended to solve