The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty
Hegel’s interpretation of the question of poverty in modern states has been an important topic in Hegelian scholarship. His early engagement with political economy (e.g., John Locke, Adam Smith and James Steuart) and his attentiveness to social phenomena made him especially concerned with the ethica...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association Œconomia
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Œconomia |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/9913 |
| _version_ | 1818727991899848704 |
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| author | Tomás Lima Pimenta |
| author_facet | Tomás Lima Pimenta |
| author_sort | Tomás Lima Pimenta |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Hegel’s interpretation of the question of poverty in modern states has been an important topic in Hegelian scholarship. His early engagement with political economy (e.g., John Locke, Adam Smith and James Steuart) and his attentiveness to social phenomena made him especially concerned with the ethical significance of poverty. Poverty is a puzzling issue for Hegel: it appears both as a necessary and unsolvable outcome of the modern rational ethical life and as an ethical failure that undermines the legitimation of this very form of life. In this paper, I articulate and defend Hegel’s understanding of poverty as an ethical failure, by showing that it frustrates fundamental aspects of the actualization of the concept of freedom. Also, I argue that Hegel’s failures in the face of this puzzle, namely that he is not able to map the necessity of this problem onto the rationale of modern ethical life, stem from the fact that he could not understand that there is another operative law in modern markets, i.e. the law of value, which does not correspond to the market’s rational justification as theorized in his account of “civil society”. Finally, I contend that the philosopher’s impasse expresses a rationality deficit in modern civil society itself. By arguing so I shed light on important aspects of Hegel’s conception of modernity and show how this interesting philosopher can be insightful even in his blind spots. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-17T22:22:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f638b312d564ac7b936aaf946f44ae7 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2113-5207 2269-8450 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-17T22:22:54Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Association Œconomia |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Œconomia |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f638b312d564ac7b936aaf946f44ae72022-12-21T21:30:25ZengAssociation ŒconomiaŒconomia2113-52072269-84502020-12-0110472975710.4000/oeconomia.9913The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of PovertyTomás Lima PimentaHegel’s interpretation of the question of poverty in modern states has been an important topic in Hegelian scholarship. His early engagement with political economy (e.g., John Locke, Adam Smith and James Steuart) and his attentiveness to social phenomena made him especially concerned with the ethical significance of poverty. Poverty is a puzzling issue for Hegel: it appears both as a necessary and unsolvable outcome of the modern rational ethical life and as an ethical failure that undermines the legitimation of this very form of life. In this paper, I articulate and defend Hegel’s understanding of poverty as an ethical failure, by showing that it frustrates fundamental aspects of the actualization of the concept of freedom. Also, I argue that Hegel’s failures in the face of this puzzle, namely that he is not able to map the necessity of this problem onto the rationale of modern ethical life, stem from the fact that he could not understand that there is another operative law in modern markets, i.e. the law of value, which does not correspond to the market’s rational justification as theorized in his account of “civil society”. Finally, I contend that the philosopher’s impasse expresses a rationality deficit in modern civil society itself. By arguing so I shed light on important aspects of Hegel’s conception of modernity and show how this interesting philosopher can be insightful even in his blind spots.http://journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/9913Hegel (Georg W. F.)povertywelfarecivil societyMarx (Karl) |
| spellingShingle | Tomás Lima Pimenta The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty Œconomia Hegel (Georg W. F.) poverty welfare civil society Marx (Karl) |
| title | The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty |
| title_full | The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty |
| title_fullStr | The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty |
| title_short | The Abyss of Right: Hegel’s Philosophy of Right and the Question of Poverty |
| title_sort | abyss of right hegel s philosophy of right and the question of poverty |
| topic | Hegel (Georg W. F.) poverty welfare civil society Marx (Karl) |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/9913 |
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