The Rationality of the State in Hegel's Political Philosophy

Abstract

The objective of this essay lies in the explanation of the normative Hegelian conception of the State, with the aim of understanding its political legitimacy in modernity. This thesis, which I will call the thesis of the legitimacy of the State, will be defended against the thesis of the phobia of the State, defended by various critics of Hegel. With this claim I will try to defend the rationality of the State in Hegelian philosophy. To do this, in the first section I will begin with the exposition of a whole series of criticisms raised againt the Hegelian State, while in the second section I will present the reasons concerning why Hegel conceived the State as a hieroglyph of reason, to end thus, in the third section, with a final sketch about the legitimacy of the modern state in Hegel's political thought.