Abstract

Up to the present time, whenever Hegel’s political philosophy came under discussion reference was made to either the “Rechtsphilosophie” or, though less frequently, to his three political writings or to the works he wrote during his time at Jena and the Phänomenologie). It has, as far as I can see, never been seriously taken into consideration, that Hegel’s most mature accomplishment within the realm of political philosophy, the Rechtsphilosophie, represents only one aspect of this part of his philosophical system as a whole, though in some respects one of particular importance, and that this work should therefore be seen in the context of his lectures. So far, however, it has hardly been possible to do this, seeing that the material pertaining to this matter remained inadequately published or not at all. The present edition is intended to meet this need, since it has become apparent that Hegel’s lectures on the philosophy of right to be published within the bounds of the historical-critical edition of his complete works on behalf of the “Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft” by the Hegel-Archiv in Bochum will not be available for decades. In the four volumes of this edition, therefore, is comprised the whole remaining or attainable material which for the most part is published here for the very first time.