Hegel's Critique of Liberalism: Rights in Context [Paperback]

Steven B. Smith (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226763501 | ISBN-13: 978-0226763507 | Publication Date: September 10, 1991

In Hegel's Critique of Liberalism, Steven B. Smith examines Hegel's critique of rights-based liberalism and its relevance to contemporary political concerns. Smith argues that Hegel reformulated classic liberalism, preserving what was of value while rendering it more attentive to the dynamics of human history and the developmental structure of the moral personality. Hegel's goal, Smith suggests, was to find a way of incorporating both the ancient emphasis on the dignity and even architectonic character of political life with the modern concern for freedom, rights, and mutual recognition. Smith's insightful analysis reveals Hegel's relevance not only to contemporary political philosophers concerned with normative issues of liberal theory but also to political scientists who have urged a revival of the state as a central concept of political inquiry.

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About the Author

Steven B. Smith is professor of political science at Yale University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (September 10, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226763501
• ISBN-13: 978-0226763507
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,507,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rechsstaat, Geist, and governance, December 9, 2002

By 

John C. Landon "nemonemini" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hegel's Critique of Liberalism: Rights in Context (Paperback)

The reputation of Hegel has been so besmirched in the minds of many by the perils of statism gone awry that it is remarkable to see a book actually rescue him from charges of these evils, and others, and actually make some sense of his political philosophy. I think, however, that getting Hegel right is one thing in theory, and another in practice, and the chaotification of this seven course Hegelian dinner in its Marxist version has been tragic. We cannot simply say that all these people got Hegel wrong and issue a new 'the real Hegel', for such things rarely get second chances. But it behooves any Marxist to consider the scrambled version of this going on unconsciously, in some Feuerbachian pidgin translation. Brought out into the light, the full scope of Hegel's view are eloquent, rich, and powerful, as this book illustrates very easily. That does not mean one should agree. But if anything this formal challenge to the natural rights tradition can illuminate the limits of the mechanized political liberalism of the first stage of the modernist social revolution. After this exceptionally clear, and reasonably short, survey of all the issues, one realizes that the problem was not really Hegel, but the inexorably arising misinterpretations of his decidedly difficult works.
One should note that such a clear exposition as this can actually make one think this is an easy subject and Hegel's views here are the object of many controversies and has many critics, consider Isaiah Berlin's Freedom and Its Betrayal, or Tucker's Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx.
One might also be sure to start at square one and consider the views Hegel reacts against, among them Kant's, cf. Patrick O'Reilly's Kant's Political Philosophy.