Hegel and politics

Hegel's political philosophy emerges from a central understanding of politics as a distinctive type of human action which is inseparable from human freedom. Freedom is reached through the dialectical conversation of politics, based on speech and recognition, and realized through history in the state. Hegel's concept of politics bears the mark of a strong classical influence, which is partly reflected in Hegel's perception of clear boundaries between the moments of family, civil society, and political state.One aspect of Hegel's classical view of politics is reflected in the relationship between human agency and necessity, which is central to his philosophy of history. Hegel bases his account of history on a teleological view of human nature. In this view, human beings as actors participate in the historical realization of human freedom. Hegel regards the state as both the concrete actualization of politics, and the realm in which politics is made possible.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio