Burke and Hegel 181are not elected but serve on a hereditary basis. The second estate
has members who represent the different social, cultural, and
professional associations. The aristocratic nature of the first
estate is meant to represent the crown in its relationship to civil
society. The second estate is meant to represent the interests of
civil society. The role of the estates is to make general rules for
the society and to educate the public and mold public opinion.
The executive branch is the most important in that the judicial
and police powers are combined in it. They are part of the
“universal class” and represent the general will and the reason of
society. Hegel sees this group as a class of civil servants who do
not view their position as a matter of right, but as a matter of duty.
Formerly, aristocrats used their executive offices as a private
club, and Hegel found that divisive, so he conceived of the idea
of an executive corps of civil servants.
The crown is the branch in which “The physical embodiment
of this organic unity is the monarch.” The monarch personifies
the state. The monarchy is a hereditary position and the main
duties include appointing important officials. The monarch can
pardon criminals, and as the titular head of the state represents
the unifying force of the government. None of the particular
elements of the state is sovereign, none is independent— their
strength is in the unity of the state, and since the monarch is the
state, he is sovereign.
It is difficult to sum up Hegel or his view of the world. He
claimed not to understand himself. Schopehauer accused him of
purposely writing to confuse, and called him a “charlatan.” John
Stuart Mill claimed he got sick every time he read Hegel. Much
of what he wrote has been interpreted in different ways, by
different people, to serve their own purposes. But there are some
concepts that seem to be worth repeating.
Hegel was an Idealist who believed that we live in a rational
universe, directed by God to an absolute truth. The state is the
highest expression of that truth. Truth exists only as a whole.
Thus the state is a whole, and individuals are subject to it, and an
ethical life cannot be lived outside the state. The Hegelian
dialectic of thesis, antithesis and synthesis is the process by
which truth is realized. The Volksgeist is the National Spirit and
represents the essence of the state and its people. The World
Spirit is the force of reason in the world and manifests itself