Elements of the Philosophy of Right

What it is

This is Hegel's 1820/1821 book on legal, moral, social and political philosophy, written while he was professor of philosophy at the University of Berlin. It expands ideas he had sketched earlier in his Encyclopedia.

Why it matters

The book argues that true freedom is only realized through participation in family, civil society, and the state, and it places the state within the larger sweep of world history. Its preface, where Hegel criticized the philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries, has caused lasting debate over whether Hegel was currying favor with Prussian censors after the Carlsbad Decrees. The book later influenced readers as different as Karl Marx and the American president Woodrow Wilson.

Look closer

• Why might a philosopher writing under state censorship choose his words about the government carefully?
• What does the controversy over Hegel's preface tell us about the pressures philosophers faced in his time?
• Why has this book been read in such different, even opposite, political ways?