Abstract

Hegel’s Philosophy of Right is often misconceived as a normative theory prescribing how the state ought to be. While it is indeed a normative theory, its primary concern is to elucidate how the state must be understood to reveal its rationality. Hegel does not dictate, for instance, that the state should have a monarch; rather, he explores how, if a state includes a monarch, this role can and must be comprehended as a rational component of the state. He demonstrates how law, morality, family, and society, as they really exist, can be perceived as rational configurations. He also examines the extent to which each of these entities embodies rationality and identifies the point at which the rationality of one configuration transitions to the next – culminating in the state.