Hegel on the value of the market economy

Heisenberg, Thimo

doi:10.1111/ejop.12336

Cited by 13 publications

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“…Indeed, Hegel holds the view that the modern market economy is superior to alternative models of economic organization (Hegel 1986: §185A) and one of the elements that contributes to the rationality of the modern social world (Hegel 1986: §185A). And while his optimism regarding the market does not go quite as far as it does such as in Adam Smith, whom he often cites in his lectures (for example, Hegel 1986: §189A, Hegel 1983a: 118, Hegel 1983b: 158; for an analysis of these passages see Waszek 1985; Henderson and Davis 1991; Herzog 2013; Heisenberg 2018), his basic commitment to the value of the market economy nevertheless puts pressure on Hegel to explain how the problem of affluence—as he himself describes it—can be solved or at least somehow ameliorated without giving up completely on the basic principles of this modern economic system.…”

Section: Hegel's Proposed Solution To the Problem Of Affluencementioning

confidence: 99%

Hegel and the Problem of Affluence

Heisenberg¹

2021

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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It is widely known that Hegel's Philosophy of Right recognizes poverty as one of the central problems of modern civil society. What is much less well known, however, is that Hegel sees yet another structural problem at the opposite side of the economic spectrum: a problem of affluence. Indeed, as I show in this essay, Hegel's text contains a detailed—yet sometimes overlooked—discussion of the detrimental psychological and sociological effects of great wealth and how to counter them. By bringing this discussion to the fore, we get a more complete picture of Hegel's theory of civil society (and of some of its central concepts, such as ‘the rabble') and shed light on an aspect of Hegel's social philosophy that speaks to problems we face today.

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Section: Hegel's Proposed Solution To the Problem Of Affluencementioning

confidence: 99%

Hegel and the Problem of Affluence

Heisenberg¹

2021

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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“…5 Some readings of freedom in civil society as labor-discipline, self-education, and transcendence of nature can be found within literature (see Church, 2010;2012b;Duncan, 2017;Heisenberg, 2018). I think that those accounts are one-sided and still trapped in the nature-freedom dualism.…”

Section: Becoming Someone In Civil Societymentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual freedom against liberalism: Hegel's nonliberal individualism

Parra‐Ayala

2023

The Southern J of Philosophy

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In this article, I argue that the main contribution of Hegel's philosophy of right to the contemporary political debate is that it opens a window on the idea that liberalism and individual freedom are incompatible. My main thesis is that the liberal conception of the State and law, structured from a nonrelational account of singularity, ends up denying the individual freedom that it claims to defend. I begin by reconstructing the Hegelian concept of freedom from its most general lines, showing that being free consists in wanting to become someone and not so much in wanting to do something. After showing that the purpose of becoming someone can only be fulfilled in a social medium, I focus on Hegel's critique of the liberal state (as expounded in the section on “civil society”). I argue that civil society structurally impedes individuals from realizing their purpose of becoming someone: the economical interactions of civil society give rise to impersonal and inscrutable mechanisms, which take the social conditions of people's individuation beyond their control. Finally, I claim that (rational) individual freedom consists in being able to thematize and democratically control the very social conditions of individuation through the State and law.

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“…The question of how the chapter on the "Administration of Justice" emphasises the necessity of protecting private property coheres with Hegel's prior comments on the common neediness of all human beings in the "system of needs"(Heisenberg 2018). …”

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“…For instance, Thimo Heisenberg believes that Hegel also sees the market as a means of inculcating a sense of tact and considerateness(Heisenberg 2018; cf. Pinkard 2017).6 On the importance of Rousseau's "amour propre" for Hegel see: Honneth 2021.…”

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Reality or Appearance of Ethical Life?

Honneth

2022

eip

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The article attempts to show that Hegel’s concept of “civil society” is characterized by a deep ambivalence about the value of the new market economy. On the one side, Hegel believed that the economic system represented by “civil society” succeeded like no other in simultaneously giving free reign to the desires of individual subjects and integrating them into a stable structural framework (I). On the other side, Hegel’s reflections are growingly overtaken by doubts as to whether, in light of its self-destructive tendencies, the market system can be as successful in guaranteeing individual freedom as he first envisaged it to be (II). In the course of this essay, it will ultimately become clear that Hegel’s attempt to redefine “civil society” reveals considerably more conceptual indecision and inner conflict than one might have suspected from the great system builder.

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Hegel on the value of the market economy

Cited by 13 publications

References 13 publications

Hegel and the Problem of Affluence

Hegel and the Problem of Affluence

Individual freedom against liberalism: Hegel's nonliberal individualism

Reality or Appearance of Ethical Life?

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