Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. Berlin: Nicolai, 1821.

HEGEL, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich

About this Item

First edition of the last of Hegel's major works to be published in his lifetime, with the usual additional title-page: Naturrecht und Staatswissenschaft im Grundrisse. Zum Gebrauch für seine Vorlesungen. In the preface comes Hegel's famous metaphor for philosophy's ability to understand reality only retrospectively: THE OWL OF MINERVA BEGINS ITS FLIGHT ONLY AT DUSK - "die Eule der Minerva beginnt erst mit der einbrechenden Dämmerung ihren Flug" (xxiv). 'A complete system, in which the concept of a sociology dominated by the idea of the State is laid down. It turns away from the apparent chaos of the democratic advocates of individual right in favour of an overwhelming sense that liberty cannot exist apart from order, and that the vital connexion of all parts of the body politic is the source of all good. As the family is, without contract, the instinctive realization of the moral life, so, equally without contract, the State is the fullest expression of the moral spirit, where interdependence is combined with free will. The State is the perfection of man as a finite entity, whence the spirit moves into the absolute existence of art, religion and philosophy' (Printing and the Mind of Man 283). Provenance: front free endpaper with ownership inscription of one Wilhelm Thorke, and beneath it in another hand 'Von meinem lieben Thorke [?] erhalten am 9. Februar 1833'. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8vo, xxvi, 355, [1] pp., contemporary marbled boards, rubbed, worn at edges, later paper spine label to which some loss, lightly foxed throughout though less so than usual, otherwise a very good clean copy without library stamps and inscribed only on the front free endpaper. Seller Inventory # ABE-18556233556

Bibliographic Details

Title: Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. ...

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good