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.The first dictum thatthe rational is the actual means that reason is a self-actualizingend, a purpose that of necessity realizes itself.The rational is notjust an ideal about what ought to be but an end that must be.Thisdictum is directed against conservatives, who tend to dismiss idealsas unrealizable, quixotic or utopian.The second dictum that theactual is the rational states that the actual embodies, realizes anddevelops the idea.It is directed against radicals, who want to sweepaway the past for their moral ideals.It is important to note, how-ever, how Hegel explicitly qualified the second half of the dictum in 222 Hegelhis Enzyklopädie (§6).Anxious to avoid the objection that hewas sanctioning all forms of the status quo in saying that theactual is rational, he explained that we have to distinguish actuality(Wirklichkeit) from reality (Dasein) or existence (Existenz).Actuality iswhat of necessity realizes the essence of a thing, and so it is notmere reality or existence, which is contingent.Hence Hegel doesnot mean to endorse every aspect of the existing social and politicalworld as rational.Crime, poverty and tyranny might be real or existbut they are not actual because they do not realize any ideal ofreason.When understood in its historical context, Hegel s dictum showsitself to be neither radical nor reactionary.It is not radical because itdemands that the statesman build on the historical past; and it isnot reactionary because it forces him to recognize the progressiveforces of history.Hegel s dictum therefore advises the statesman toseek the middle path of reform.This is indeed just what we expectHegel to say when we place him in his Prussian context.AlthoughHegel has often been seen as a spokesman for the Prussian Restor-ation, several basic facts refute this interpretation.(1) Hegel s con-nections in Prussia were not with reactionary court circles, but withthe reforming administration of Stein, Hardenberg and Altenstein.It was indeed Altenstein who called Hegel to Prussia because hewas attracted to his reformist views.22 Rather than siding with thereactionaries, Hegel criticized them sharply in his correspondenceand in the Philosophy of Right.23 For their part, the reactionary circlesin the Prussian court under Count von Wittgenstein harrassed andspied upon Hegel and his pupils.24 (2) Hegel developed the out-lines, and even the details, of his organic conception of the statebefore his association with Prussia in 1818.25 Until 1805, when thefoundation of his views had already been laid down, he regardednot Prussia but Austria as the major hope for reform in Germany.26(3) Rather than glorifying the status quo, most aspects of Hegel sideal state were far from a reality in the Prussia of 1820.Indeed,Hegel s demands for a constitutional monarchy, an elected Freedom and the Foundation of Right 223assembly, local self-government, and a powerful civil servicewere all defeated by the Prussian reactionaries in 1819.(4) Hegel sorganic state closely resembles the ideals for the reform of thePrussian state put forward by Stein and Hardenberg.Like Hegel,Stein and Hardenberg advocated (a) a bi-cameral estates assembly,(b) more local self-government, (c) more freedom of trade and theabolition of feudal privileges, (d) a constitution ensuring funda-mental rights to all citizens and placing limits upon the powers ofthe monarchy, (e) greater equality of opportunity, so that positionsin the army and civil service were open to anyone with sufficienttalent, and (f) a more powerful bureaucracy, which did not simplyexecute the orders of the king and cabinet but which activelyformulated government policy.Given all its affinities with the Prussian Reformation, and all itstensions with the Prussian Restoration, it is tempting to regardHegel s theory of the state as the philosophy of the Prussian ReformMovement.This is indeed a more accurate characterization ofHegel s position.It is important to remember, however, that Hegeldeveloped almost all his ideas before the formation of this move-ment, so that they are at best only an ex post facto rationalizationof it.27 TenHegel s Theory of the StateHEGEL S POLITICAL PROJECTIn one of his few arresting metaphors Hegel wrote in the Preface tohis Philosophy of Right that the owl of Minerva only flies at dusk.In asombre tone he explained that philosophy always arrives too lateon the scene, painting its gray upon gray only when a form of lifehas grown old.If we apply these lines to Hegel s own politicalphilosophy, we might well wonder what relevance it has for ustoday.After all, if Hegel s philosophy was already obsolete for hisage, what value can it possibly have for our own?Although much in Hegel s political philosophy is indeed dated,philosophers today still value it for raising important questions andfor posing alternatives to the dominant liberalism of contemporarypolitical thought.Usually, Hegel is seen as the great modernspokesman for communitarianism and as the pioneering critic ofliberalism [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]