Hegel and the Philosophy of Right : The Role of “Mediation” and the Overcoming of the Homo uti Singulus Conception

Abstract

The judgment on Hegel’s philosophy expressed by Karl Marx in the work Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie is well-known: Hegel misdescribes empirical reality “as an embodiment of rationality and freedom.” Presenting the rational as real and the real as rational, the Stuttgart philosopher’s thought, under the mystification of the Idea, takes the shape of mysticism [ der logische, pantheistische Mysticismus]; “Reality [ Wirklichkeit] is not expressed as itself but as another reality.” What is the other reality? The Idea that splits itself into political spheres. What is the true reality? The reality that Hegel mystifies as Spirit: the Prussian State.