The author�s
purpose is to
understand the
philosophical foundations of Hegel�s social theory by
articulating the
normative standards at work in his claim that the three
central social institutions of the modern era--the nuclear family, civil society, and the constitutional state--are rational or good. Its central question is: what, for Hegel, makes a rational social order rational? In addressing this question the book aspires to be faithful to Hegel�s texts and to articulate a compelling theory of rational social institutions; its aim is not only to interpret Hegel correctly but also to demonstrate the richness and power that his vision of the rational social order possesses.
Frederick Neuhouser�s task is to understand the conceptions of freedom on which Hegel�s theory rests and to show how they ground his arguments in defense of the modern social world. In doing so, the author focuses on Hegel�s most important and least understood contribution to social philosophy, the idea of �social freedom.�
Neuhouser�s strategy for making sense of social freedom is to show its affinities with Rousseau�s conception of the general will. The main idea that Hegel appropriates from Rousseau is that rational social institutions must satisfy two conditions: first, they must furnish the basic social preconditions of their members� freedom; and, second, all social members must be able subjectively to affirm their freedom-conditioning institutions as good and thus to regard the principles that govern their social participation as coming from their own wills..
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