Faculty Mentors
Brooke Rudow
Abstract
In section three of Elements of the Philosophy of Right, Hegel lays out a theory of statecraft that comprises what he deems to be the ethical state. The ethical state is the political state that has secured the rights of its citizens through the union of state power, civil society, and absolute spirit. This paper will investigate the relationship that religion has to the ethical state in Hegel’s philosophy. First, it will be important to explain what Hegel deems absolute spirit in the Science of Logic and Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences, Volume 3. Next, we will briefly apply absolute spirit to the view that Hegel has of ancient Greece, as explained in Lectures on Philosophy of History. Finally, we will demonstrate how absolute spirit, when it has been fully realized in Lutheran Christianity, relates to the formation and upkeep of an ethical state as illustrated in section three.
Recommended Citation
Coates, Hunter
(2026)
"The Proper Role of Religion in Hegel's Philosophy of Statecraft,"
The Corinthian: Vol. 22, Article 6.
Available at:
https://kb.gcsu.edu/thecorinthian/vol22/iss1/6
Included in
Christianity Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, History of Philosophy Commons, Metaphysics Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons