Burke and Hegel 179Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was bom in Stuttgart, Ger
many in 1770. His family was of modest means and he studied
theology with the intention of becoming a minister. He worked
as a tutor, a teacher, a school administrator, a newspaper editor,
and finally became a university professor. He taught at the
University of Heidelberg and for the better part of his career at
the University of Berlin. He became the outstanding German
philosopher of his day and was renowned throughout Europe.
His major works, The Philosophy o f Right and The Philosophy
ofHistoi-y, contain the most important elements of his political
philosophy.
Hegel was an absolute Idealist. His most famous quote, “the
rational is actual, and the actual is rational,” is the basis for his
position. Coupled with the concept that the absolute is the whole,
it requires that one consider reality as a totality which can be
achieved through reason. The momentary understanding of
particular truths is only a part of a process. Thus, truth is not
static, rather it is constantly evolving towards the totality.
Reason is the supreme force in the universe and it operates
through the dialectic.
The dialectic is the method by which this process operates.
The dialectic consists of a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The
thesis is an idea. Inherent in any idea is it’s opposite—the
antithesis. The combining of the two gives way to a synthesis—
a newer, fuller truth— which in turn becomes a new thesis. This
process is a continuum in which each new thesis is an improve
ment over the old one, so that all history is progressing on a
higher and higher plane of truth towards what he calls the
universal or world spirit.
The concept of the dialectic as it applies to Hegel’s political
philosophy begins with the family. The family is the thesis—
representing the concept of unity. Within the family all the
members are really one, not independent, but dependent, beings.
The civil society is the antithesis— representing the concept of
particularity. As children leave the family, they become inde
pendent entities in a social setting. The synthesis of the family
and civil society results in the state. The state to Hegel is the
highest realization of the dialectical process. The relationship of