Hegel: Elements of the Philosophy of Right (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Author:Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1991-10-25T04:00:00+00:00

§ 212

In this identity of being in itself and being posited, only what is law has binding force as right. Since being posited constitutes the aspect of existence [Dasein] in which the contingency of self-will and of other particular factors may also intervene, what is law may differ in content from what is right in itself.

In positive right, what is legal [gesetzmäßig] is therefore the source of cognition of what is right [Recht], or more precisely, of what is lawful [Rechtens]; the positive science of right is to that extent a historical science whose principle is that of authority. Whatever else may arise is a matter [Sache] for the understanding and concerns the external classification, compilation, consequences, and further application etc. [of laws]. When the understanding becomes involved with the nature of the thing [Sache] itself, its theories (e.g. of criminal law) show what mischief it can do with its deductive reasoning [Räsonnement aus Gründen]. – On the one hand, positive science has not only the right, but also the necessary duty to deduce in every detail from its positive data both the historical developments and the applications and ramifications of the given determinations of right, and to follow up their consequences; but on the other hand, if it is then asked whether, after all these demonstrations, a determination of right is rational, those who occupy themselves with this science should at least not be absolutely astonished, even if they regard the question as beside the point. – On understanding [the law], cf. Remarks to § 3 above.

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