The concept of “historical judgment” as a category of Hegel’s philosophy of law

Dmitri Bogatirev,Boris Makov,Rida Zekrist,Alexandra Shcherbina,Dmitri Maslennikov,V Kankhva

doi:10.1051/e3sconf/202125807017

Abstract

The authors of the article proceed from the fact that in the Hegelian philosophy of law, the discursive content of the notion “court of history” has not received a detailed explication, and it must be reconstructed on the basis of the entire context of Hegel’s philosophy. Hegel’s spiritual understanding of history is inextricably linked with his understanding of the role of Christianity in the history of mankind and in the formation of history itself as an integral process. According to the authors, in his Christology, Hegel connects together religious issues, the definition of the meaning of history and his interpretation of the essence of law and state. Thus, following Hegel, one can philosophically understand history (“Geschichte”) as the highest court and rationally interpret the concept of the highest court as a category of philosophy of law. History, which contains the mystery of the “Sacred History”, turns out to be the highest instance of law and state.

Highlights

Promoting the idea of the court of history, Hegel completes his philosophy of right both in its full version and in a concise presentation in the “Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences” within his doctrine of the objective spirit
Hegel sees two principles in the state: the spiritual principle, expressed in its internal differentiation and in connection with a differentiated civil society; and the beginning of life, the soul of the state, which makes it possible for it to have integrity and to reproduce itself, i.e. sovereignty: “the state as a spiritual state is the unfolding of all its moments, but individuality is both soulfulness and the life-giving principle, with sovereignty containing all the differences”
The subject of the process of 2riticized a state, according to Hegel, is spirit (Geist), i.e. the spiritual principle of man and humanity, which is present in nature as its internal, hidden form

Summary

Introduction

Promoting the idea of the court of history, Hegel completes his philosophy of right both in its full version and in a concise presentation in the “Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences” within his doctrine of the objective spirit Such a result seems organically based on Hegel’s general comprehension of the nature of the state. As distinct from contemporary theorists of modern right, Hegel does not treat the state as a mechanism that formally and only externally inter-connects various institutions and governing bodies which pursue utilitarian goals He understands the state as “life of selfaware freedom,” expressing a certain higher moral idea, but being its direct embodiment: “The state is not a mechanism, but an intelligent life of self-aware freedom, a system of a moral world” [1].

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