grundlinien.de

30

Right is something sacred in general, solely because it is the existence of the absolute concept, of self-conscious freedom. – The formalism of right, however (and further of duty), arises from the difference in the development of the concept of freedom. As against a more formal, i.e. more abstract and therefore more restricted right, the sphere and stage of spirit in which it has brought the further moments contained in its Idea to determinacy and actuality has, as the more concrete, the richer in itself and the more truly universal, thereby also a higher right.

Each stage in the development of the Idea of freedom has its own peculiar right, because it is the existence of freedom in one of its own determinations. |36| When one speaks of the opposition of morality and ethical life to right, only the first, formal right of abstract personality is meant by “right” there. Morality, ethical life, and the interest of the state are each a peculiar right, because each of these forms is a determination and existence of freedom. They can come into collision only in so far as they stand on the same footing of being rights; were the moral standpoint of spirit not likewise a right – freedom in one of its forms – it could not possibly come into collision with the right of personality, or with any other right, because such a right contains within itself the concept of freedom, the highest determination of spirit, against which anything else is without substance. But the collision at the same time contains this further moment, that it is restricted and consequently also subordinated one to the other; only the right of the world spirit is unrestrictedly absolute.

DE ES

Comments

2 responses to “30”

  1. Hegel (Notes) Avatar
    Hegel (Notes)

    [zu § 30] Right – freedom in its various determinations limitation – narrow-hearted, narrow-minded – confined within narrow bounds – how this must be limited and then again must be limited.

  2. Hegel (Simple) Avatar
    Hegel (Simple)

    § 30: Right against right

    Right is something sacred. Why? Because in right, freedom that knows itself exists. There is nothing higher in the world of spirit.

    But there is not just one right. Freedom unfolds in stages. Each stage is a shape of freedom. That is why each stage has its own right.

    What are these stages?

    First comes the right of the single person, for example the right to property. Then comes the right of conscience. Then the right of the family and of the state. When people set right and morality against each other, they mean by “right” only the first, thinnest stage. But morality is a right too. The welfare of the state is also a right.

    What happens when rights collide?

    An example: My plot of land belongs to me. Now a dike must go up, or else the whole village will drown. Then the right of the community comes first.

    Rights can only collide because both really are rights. If one of them were no right at all, there would be no conflict. But the conflict also shows: Every right has its limit. The poorer right must give way to the richer one. The richer stage is the one in which more of freedom has become real.

    Only one right has no limit at all: the right of the world spirit. That is the course of history itself.

    Summary: Each stage of freedom has its own right. The higher stage has the higher right, because it contains more freedom. Only the right of world history has no limits.

Leave a Reply