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259

The Idea of the state:

  • |247| a) has immediate actuality and is the individual state as an organism relating itself to itself — constitution, or internal constitutional law;
  • |248| b) passes over into the relation of the individual state to other states — external constitutional law;
  • |249| |250| c) is the universal Idea as genus and as absolute power in relation to individual states — the spirit that gives itself its actuality in the process of world history.

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4 responses to “259”

  1. Hegel (Encyclopedia 1827) Avatar
    Hegel (Encyclopedia 1827)

    Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline (1827), § 536:

    § 536. The state is α) at first its inner, self-relating development, – the internal constitutional law or the constitution; it is β) a particular individual and thus in relation to other particular individuals, – the external constitutional law; γ) but these particular spirits are only moments in the development of the universal idea of spirit, – world history.

  2. Hegel (Encyclopedia 1830) Avatar
    Hegel (Encyclopedia 1830)

    Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline (1830), § 536:

    § 536. The state is α) at first its inner configuration as self-relating development, – the internal constitutional law or the constitution; it is β) a particular individual, thus in relation to other particular individuals, – the external constitutional law; γ) but these particular spirits are only moments in the development of the universal idea of spirit in its actuality, – world history.

  3. Eduard Gans (Additions) Avatar
    Eduard Gans (Additions)

    The state as actual is essentially an individual state, and, going further, also a particular state. Individuality is to be distinguished from particularity: it is a moment of the idea of the state itself, whereas particularity belongs to history. The states as such are independent of one another, and their relation can therefore only be an external one, so that there must be a third, connecting term above them. This third is now the spirit that gives itself actuality in world history and constitutes the absolute judge over them. Several states may indeed, as a league, form as it were a tribunal over others, and unions of states may occur, as for instance the Holy Alliance, but these are always only relative and limited, like perpetual peace. The sole absolute judge, who asserts himself always and against the particular, is the spirit that is in and for itself, which presents itself in world history as the universal and as the genus at work.

  4. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 259: Three Parts

    The Idea of the state shows itself in three ways. They give the rest of the book its order.

    First, the individual state by itself. Its inner order, its constitution. This is internal constitutional law.

    Second, the state in its relation to other states. This is external constitutional law.

    Third, the spirit that stands above all states. It shows itself in world history.

    Why do we need the third?

    States are independent of each other. None stands above another. Alliances like the Holy Alliance stay limited, and so does perpetual peace. The only judge over the states is the spirit in world history.

    Summary: The state appears in three ways. As an individual state with its constitution. In its relation to other states. And in world history. World history is the last judge over all states.

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