Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:24:02.896Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hegel and the Problem of Affluence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2021

THIMO HEISENBERG Open the ORCID record for THIMO HEISENBERG [Opens in a new window]
THIMO HEISENBERG*
Affiliation:
BRYN MAWR COLLEGE theisenber@brynmawr.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is widely known that Hegel's Philosophy of Right recognizes poverty as one of the central problems of modern civil society. What is much less well known, however, is that Hegel sees yet another structural problem at the opposite side of the economic spectrum: a problem of affluence. Indeed, as I show in this essay, Hegel's text contains a detailed—yet sometimes overlooked—discussion of the detrimental psychological and sociological effects of great wealth and how to counter them. By bringing this discussion to the fore, we get a more complete picture of Hegel's theory of civil society (and of some of its central concepts, such as ‘the rabble') and shed light on an aspect of Hegel's social philosophy that speaks to problems we face today.

Keywords

Hegelpovertyaffluencecivil society
Type
Article
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , Summer 2022 , pp. 224 - 237
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Philosophical Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I thank Borhane Blili-Hamelin, Raphael Causapin, Yaniv Goren, Matthew Heeney, Alex Jensen, Sebastian Kanally, Gal Katz, Katja Vogt, and Mira Wolf-Bauwens for comments on earlier draft of this essay. Many thanks also to several anonymous referees for helpful suggestions and prompts. As always, my gratitude belongs also to Fred Neuhouser for encouragement, comments, and inspiration.

References

Avineri, Shlomo. (2003) ‘The Political Economy of Modern Society’. In Avineri, Hegel's Theory of the Modern State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 132–54. The book was originally published in 1972.Google Scholar
Ellmers, Sven. (2015) Freiheit und Wirtschaft: Theorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft nach Hegel. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.Google Scholar
Ellmers, Sven. (2017) ‘Platonische Motive in Hegels Sittlichkeitslehre’. In Ellmers, Sven and Herrmann, Steffen (eds.), Korporation und Sittlichkeit: zur Aktualität von Hegels Theorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink), 73–100.Google Scholar
Ellmers, Sven, and Herrmann, Steffen. (2017) ‘Die Korporation und ihre wirtschaftliche, soziale und politische Funktion nach Hegel’. In Ellmers, Sven and Herrmann, Steffen (eds.), Korporation und Sittlichkeit: zur Aktualität von Hegels Theorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink), 7–25.Google Scholar
Hardimon, Michael. (1994) Hegel's Social Philosophy: The Project of Reconciliation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1973 –1974) Vorlesungen über die Rechtsphilosophie, 1818–1831. Edited by Ilting, Karl-Heinz. 4 vols. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1983a) Philosophie des Rechts: Die Mitschriften Wannenmann (Heidelberg 1817/18) und Homeyer (Berlin 1818/19). Edited by Ilting, Karl-Heinz. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1983b) Philosophie des Rechts: Die Vorlesungen von 1819/20 in einer Nachschrift. Edited by Henrich, Dieter. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1986) Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts oder Naturrecht und Staatswissenschaft im Grundrisse: mit Hegels eigenhändigen Notizen und den mündlichen Zusätzen. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (1991) Elements of a Philosophy of Right. Edited by Wood, Allen. Translated by Nisbet, H. S.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (2000) Vorlesungen über die Philosophie des Rechts. Berlin 1819/20. Edited by Angehrn, Emil, Bondeli, Martin, and Seelmann, Hoo Nam. Hamburg: Felix Meiner.Google Scholar
Hegel, G. W. F. (2005) Die Philosophie des Rechts: Vorlesung von 1821/22. Edited by Hoppe, Hansgeorg. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Heisenberg, Thimo. (2018) ‘Hegel on the Value of the Market Economy’. European Journal of Philosophy, 26, 1283–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, James P., and Davis, John B.. (1991) ‘Adam Smith's Influence on Hegel's Philosophical Writings’. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 13, 184–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henrich, Dieter. (1983) ‘Einleitung des Herausgebers’. In Henrich, Dieter (ed.), Philosophie des Rechts: Die Vorlesungen von 1819/20 in einer Nachschrift (Frankfurt: Suhrkamp), 9–39.Google Scholar
Herzog, Lisa. (2013) Inventing the Market: Smith, Hegel and Political Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herzog, Lisa. (2015) ‘Two Ways of Taming the Market’. In Buchwalter, Andrew (ed.), Hegel and Capitalism (Albany: State University of New York Press), 147–62.Google Scholar
Knowles, Dudley. (2002) Hegel and the Philosophy of Right. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mead, Nicole L., and Stupy, Annika. (2014) ‘Two Sides of the Same Coin: Money Can Promote and Hinder Interpersonal Processes’. In Bijleveld, Erik and Aarts, Henk (eds.), The Psychological Science of Money (New York: Springer), 243–62.Google Scholar
Neuhouser, Frederick. (2000) Foundations of Hegel's Social Philosophy: Actualizing Freedom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Neuhouser, Frederick. (2009) ‘Desire, Recognition and the Relationship between Bondsman and Lord’. In Westphal, Kenneth (ed.), Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Malden: Blackwell), 37–54.Google Scholar
Perkins, Tom. (2014) ‘Is a Progressive Kristallnacht Coming?’ Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2014. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304549504579316913982034286.Google Scholar
Ruda, Frank. (2011) Hegel's Rabble: An Investigation into Hegel's Philosophy of Right. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Schülein, Johannes-Georg. (2017) ‘Die Korporation all zweite Familie in Hegels Theorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft’. In Ellmers, Sven and Herrmann, Steffen (eds.), Korporation und Sittlichkeit: zur Aktualität von Hegels Theorie der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft (Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink), 101–16.Google Scholar
Sherman, Rachel. (2017) Uneasy Street. The Anxieties of Affluence. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang. (2014) ‘How Will Capitalism End?’ New Left Review, 87, 35–64.Google Scholar
Veblen, Thorstein. (1889) The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Waszek, Norbert. (1985) ‘Adam Smith and Hegel on the Pin Factory’. Owl of Minerva, 16, 229–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Allen. (1990) ‘Problems in Modern Ethical Life’. In Wood, Hegel's Ethical Thought (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 237–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar