Hegel’s Moral and Political Philosophy
Prof. Patrick Frierson
Office Hours in Olin 151: T 11-12, W 9-10, 11-12.
Purpose: The primary purpose of this course is to help
you think more deeply about important moral and political problems. Hegel was one of the most insightful and original
moral and political philosophers of all time, and his approach to moral and
political philosophy is both radically different than most contemporary approaches
and deeply influential on current trends of thought.
By being immersed in Hegelian thinking about moral and political problems,
you will be able to think more creatively about contemporary issues.
As secondary (but important) goals, this course will teach you to read
difficult texts carefully and closely and to express yourselves clearly and
convincingly orally and in writing.
Requirements:
In this course we will focus
on carefully reading through and thinking about Hegel’s Philosophy of Right. The Philosophy of Right is one of Hegel’s easier
works, but Hegel is one of philosophy’s most difficult philosophers.
The reading, in other words, will be doable but difficult.
The most important requirement for this class is to read and reread
each assignment carefully and come to class with a clear view about the meaning
of the text, how each paragraph flows into the following one and follows from
the previous ones, and what Hegel’s overall goal is in the reading for the
day. This will not be easy, and we will not always
agree on the meaning of Hegel’s text. The
point is to come to class with a well-thought-out interpretation, not with
an unassailable and perfected understanding of the text.
In addition to coming to class
to prepared, you will be expected to share
your ideas and insights with the class. Interpreting
Hegel will be a cooperative venture, and the course depends on active engagement
with each other during class times. Thus class participation is a crucial part
of the class and will be worth 25% of your final grade, based primarily on
the quality (but also to some extent on the quantity) of your contributions
to class discussions. Because this
is a class in which you are a participant in your classmates’ education, rather
than merely a member of an audience, attendance will also factor into your
grade. After your first two absences,
every unexcused absence will lower your participation grade by 1/3 of a point
(from A- to B+, for example).
There are two key writing
components to the class, a journal (worth 50% of your final grade) and a final
paper (worth 25% of your final grade).
Philosophy of Right Journal: As you read
Hegel, you should be keeping a detailed journal. This journal will help you focus as you seek to develop your interpretation
of Hegel, and it will provide a permanent resource to which you can return
for your final paper and in the future. I will collect these journals periodically.
I will not tell you ahead of time
when I plan to collect them, so they need to be kept up to date.
Half of your journal grade will be based on grades that I give you
when I collect and review these journals over the course of the semester (I
will drop the lowest one of these), and the other half will be based on the
finished product at the end of the semester.
The journal has several parts:
(a) Hegel in outline (approximately 40%
of your journal grade): You should
regularly summarize Hegel’s argument in your own words. For each
paragraph (§) in Hegel, you should write a 1-3 sentence summary of the paragraph. As much as possible, you should avoid Hegelese and you should write
sentences that your friends could understand and that would communicate to
them the main points of Hegel’s text. It
will probably be easiest to write these sentences as you go along, writing
a short summary for each paragraph after you finish reading it. However, you should periodically review your
outline to make sure that the overall “flow” of Hegel’s argument is represented
in your outline. (For short paragraphs
that do not add significantly to the Hegel’s argument, you may cluster your
summaries of 2-3 paragraphs into a 1-3 sentence entry, but do this sparingly.)
At the end of each section in Hegel (including the Preface),
you should write a 1-3 paragraph summary
of the overall argument of the section. (When we get to Ethical Life, you may need
to write these at the end of each sub-section.) The point here is to clearly explain the overall flow of Hegel’s
argument, including the key stages through which it moves, the motivations
to move on to each successive stage, and the concluding position of the section.
If possible, you should have a paragraph discussing potential problems
with Hegel’s “conclusion.” Similarly, at the end of each Part in Hegel, you should write a 1-3 paragraph summary of the overall argument
of the Part. (Thus at the end of
§141, for example, you will write a 1-3 sentence summary of §141, a 1-3 paragraph
summary of “Section 3: The Good and Conscience,” and a 1-3 paragraph summary of “Part Two: Morality.”)
This outline must be written in your journal before we discuss the relevant sections in class.
(Journals will be docked at
least one full grade point – e.g. from B+ to C+ – for each day of summary
that is missing, up to and including the current day’s reading.)
(b) Hegel Lexicon (~10%): Hegel uses words in some quite peculiar ways. Over the course of the semester, you should put together a lexicon of at least 20 key Hegelian terms. For each term, you should provide the German word (ask me for help with this or use the German edition on reserve in Penrose), the English translation used in our text, a philosophically astute explanation of the meaning of the term, and at least one example of its use in the text that shows its philosophical significance. You should add at least one word to your lexicon each week and should have at least 20 words in it at the end of the semester.
(c) Informal reflection,
questions, and criticism (~10%): As you read and summarize Hegel, you should write down questions
that you have about how to interpret him, reflection on how Hegel might relate
to other issues that concern you, and problems that you see with his argument.
This part of your journal does not need to be carefully crafted; it
is an opportunity for you to keep track of your own thoughts and share them
with me.
(d) Formal reflection
and criticism (~30%): On days marked with an asterix, the reading load
is relatively light. On these days,
should take one of the comments or criticisms raised in your informal reflections
(c) and develop this into a well-focused and articulate comment, criticism,
or question. These should be at
least 300 words and no more than 1500 words. At least one of these reflections should be
an “immanent critique” of Hegel – an attempt to show that some aspects of
Hegel’s philosophy violates his own standards or is inconsistent with his
system. At least one other reflection
should be an application of Hegelian philosophy to a current philosophical,
moral, or political problem. I will
comment on your formal reflections extensively, so you should use them to
articulate ideas on which you want feedback.
(They are a good forum to start working towards the final paper.) On the days marked with asterixes, I will collect
your journals, but I will not dock your grade if you did not complete the
summaries for that day. You must,
however, have completed all the summaries up to and including the previous
class. You may also take comments
and develop them into more formal reflection and criticism on days that are
not marked with an asterix. In these
cases, you are welcome submit your journal to me for feedback on your own
initiative, or you can wait until I collect the journals at random.
(e) Corrections,
revisions, and responses (~10%): I
will periodically write questions or comments in your journals when I collect
them. You should respond to at least
some of these comments. (You need
not respond to every comment; I’ll be looking for engagement in a conversation,
not exhaustive coverage of every point that I raise.)
Final Paper: The final paper should be a sustained argument
defending a particular interpretation of Hegel, using Hegel to defend an important
moral or political position, and/or criticizing Hegel in a significant way.
The thesis of your paper should be significant, interesting, and potentially
controversial. In other words, if you cannot imagine anyone
other than you being interested in your thesis, or if you cannot imagine any
intelligent person disagreeing with that thesis, do not write a paper defending
it. The argument for your thesis should
be clear and well supported with both philosophical argument and textual references.
For advice on writing papers
in philosophy, I strongly recommend that you refer to Joe Cruz’s Writing Tutor
at
http://www.williams.edu/acad-depts/philosophy/jcruz/writingtutor/
.
I expect you to have consulted
this Writing Tutor before beginning your final paper.
In order to get any higher
than a C on your paper, you must have a well articulated thesis that is significant,
interesting, and potentially controversial. The paper must draw on the Philosophy of Right to defend that claim
with proper referencing and textual support.
The paper must be well organized into coherent paragraphs and show
grammatical correctness throughout. The
minimum length of a C paper is 1800 words.
In addition to these requirements,
in order to get a B+ on your final paper, your thesis must be clearly explained
and well defended. A reader unfamiliar
with Hegel should be able to follow every step of your argument, and your
argument should be able to convince a person who began the paper doubting
your thesis. You must have ample textual
support from Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
and you must explain potentially difficult Hegelian terms. Your paper must be rigorous enough to be appreciated
by someone who has already studied Hegel but clear enough to be read by someone
unfamiliar with Hegel’s terminology. You must take into account significant possible objections to your
thesis, showing how you respond to those objections. The argument for your thesis should be clear
and compelling. The minimum length
of a B+ paper is 2500 words.
In order to get an A or an
A- on your paper, the paper must meet all of the above qualifications and
also be elegantly written. The thesis
must be particularly challenging and the argument particularly lucid and concise. In addition, a paper that gets an A or A- will
go beyond Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
and make substantial use of secondary sources. (These can include Wood but must also include others. Beyond Wood,
you can look to the secondary sources on reserve in Penrose as well as sources
that you find in your own research. A
good source for references is the Philosopher’s Index: http://web5.silverplatter.com/webspirs/start.ws?customer=c35360. You should not expect to get an A if you have
not at least consulted the Philosopher’s Index for potentially relevant sources.
You should also look to footnotes and references in good sources for
guides to further sources.) The minimum length of an A or A- paper is 4000
words. Note: Using secondary sources and writing at least 4000 words is not sufficient to get an A- on your final
paper. The paper must also be clear,
compelling, interesting, elegantly written, and meet all the other criteria
listed above.
Books: G.W.F. Hegel, Elements
of the Philosophy of Right, ed. Allen W. Wood. Cambridge University Press, 1991. ISBN: 0-521-34888-9.
Allen Wood, Hegel’s Ethical Thought. Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN: 0-521-37782-x.
Books on Reserve:
Schlomo Avineri, Hegel’s
Theory of the Modern State
Charles Taylor, Hegel
Charles Taylor, Hegel’s Theory of the Modern State
Paul Franco, Hegel’s Philosophy
of Freedom
Mark Tunick, Hegel’s Political
Theory: interpreting the practice of legal punishment
Terry Pinkard, Hegel: A biography B2947.P56
Karl Marx, Critique of
Hegel’s ‘Philosophy of Right’
G.W.F. Hegel, Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts
Timeline:
|
|
|
From Hegel’s P. of R. |
From Wood’s H.E.T. |
Topics to Discuss |
|
Aug. |
31 |
Table of Contents &
§§ 1, 41 |
pp.10, 94-5 |
Introductions, urgent
moral and political problems today, syllabus, intro to Hegel |
|
Sept. |
2 |
Preface & §§1-4 |
pp. 1-35 |
Hegel’s method, “the
actual is rational,” critiques of negative freedom & utopianism |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7 |
§§ 5-7 |
pp. 36-74 |
The nature of freedom
1 |
|
|
9 |
§§ 8-33 |
pp. 36-74 |
The nature of freedom
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14* |
§§ 29-40 |
pp. 77-93 |
Structure of PR, nature
of personhood |
|
|
16 |
§§ 41-64 |
pp. 94-107 |
Property rights, need
for and nature of them |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
21 |
§§ 65-81 |
|
Property and contracts |
|
|
23 |
§§ 82-104 |
pp. 108-26 (cf. Tunick) |
Crime and punishment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
28* |
§§102-104 |
|
Nature of punishment |
|
|
30 |
§§105-28 |
pp. 134-44 |
Nature of “morality,”
subjectivity, action and responsibility |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oct. |
5 |
§§119-135 and Kant’s
Grounding I-II |
pp. 144-73 |
The Good, critique
of Kant |
|
|
7 |
§§129-41 |
pp. 174-92 |
Conscience, critique
of romanticism |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 |
Break |
|
|
|
|
14* |
|
|
Catch-up and review
(or work ahead and spend more time on marriage and family) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19 |
§§ 142-57 |
pp.195-218 |
Ethical life and ethical
substance |
|
|
21 |
§§ 158-181 |
pp. 243-6 |
Marriage and Family |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26 |
§§ 181-208 |
pp. 200-2, 239-43 |
Civil Society |
|
|
28 |
§§ 209-256 |
pp. 247-55 |
Police and poverty,
regulating civil society |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov. |
2* |
§§ 239-56 |
pp. 241-3, 249-55 |
Poverty (and the need
for the state) |
|
|
4 |
§§ 256-72 |
pp. 237-9 |
Need for the state,
theory of punishment |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9 |
§ 270 |
|
Church and state |
|
|
11 |
§§ 272-97 |
|
hereditary monarchy
and bureaucracy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16 |
§§ 298-320 |
|
Interest groups and
legislation |
|
|
18 |
§§ 321-60 |
|
International relations,
int’l law, war |