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Western Political Thought

Notes Hegel, like other thinkers of the Enlightenment in general and Diderot and Voltaire in particular,
looked upon reason as a guide to human existence. The French Revolution was the culmination of
these developments, representing the philosophers’ critique of the existing order. The French
nobility lost its rational basis, and that explained the emergence and popularity of the doctrine of
the Rights of Man. Hegel hailed the Revolution as a “glorious mental dawn” which had to be
welcomed by all thinking people. However, the euphoria was short-lived, for it led to revolutionary
terror, with the guillotine institutionalizing punishment without any legal basis. This deterioration
took place because the revolution wanted to implement purely abstract philosophical notions,
without ascertaining what the people really wanted. It was not directed by reason, as it never took
note of the totality of the situation, and relied more on isolated acts, which never succeeded. As a
result, the revolution remained a promise unfulfilled.
The significance of the French Revolution was to be understood in the context of its influence
elsewhere in Europe, and in particular, in Germany. The brief periods of Napoleonic victories and
rule brought in the desired changes in Germany, like giving it a series of rights, establishment of
freedom of the individual, freedom of property, opening of state jobs to the most talented, and the
end of feudal obligations. Hegel took note of the fact that monarchy still remained at the apex, and
its decisions were important, but because of well-established laws and efficient rule-based state
organizations, personal discretion hardly mattered.
The movement of world history, for Hegel, had reached its destination and this was made possible
by two factors. The first was the capacity and the circumstances in which the individual acted
according to his own conscience and convictions. This was the individual spirit which sought
happiness and provided energy. The second factor was the corresponding social and political
institutions of the real world, which was based on reason. This was the world spirit which tried to
reach a higher freedom which came with the knowledge of the self, providing the necessary
direction. Both were necessary, as one was incomplete without the other, and the absence of one
signified conflict and not harmony. Hegel was explicit in his emphasis that in history, nothing was
achieved without individuals, each pursuing his own goals, whatever those goals might be. But
for knowing whether the actions were in conformity with the dialectic of the universal, “the
cunning of reason” played its role, and “sets passions to work for itself”.
The individuals broadly fell under three categories with regard to their roles in history : (a) the
category of persons in whom the customs and beliefs of a particular civilization were realized,
signifying the rights and duties of that particular order, resisting the process of historical change
and becoming chief victims of history; (b) the category including the world-historical individuals
(like Julius Caesar), who, though seeking their particular ends, possessed the insight to grasp the
truth of their age; and (c) the category consisting of moral reformers who continuously evaluated
things from “is” to “ought”, Hegel being very critical of such persons, as in the name of reason,
liberty and justice, they took up a “position not merely of discontent, but also of open revolt
against the actual condition of the world”.
In Hegel, both the subjective idea of freedom of the individual, as also the notion of freedom
towards which the spirit was destined to move, were abstractions. These abstractions became
concrete in the social life of man, which for Hegel was the state, the bearer of freedom. Rejecting
the idea of natural rights, he also criticized the very basic premise of the Enlightenment theory, the
cherished ideal of individual rights, making the state the means to the end for the realization of
these rights. The state was the “embodiment of rational freedom, realizing and recognizing itself
in an objective form”.
Hegel, however, did not work out the details of the nature of the rational state in the Philosophy of
History. This had been provided in the Philosophy of Rights, where he spelt out the details of a
rationally organized state based on the enjoyment of individual freedom. Hegel’s fundamental
conviction was that Western civilization was built by two important forces : (a) the harmonious

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