Discussion questions on Abstract Right
I. Generally
1. What is abstract about the section 'Abstract Right'?
2. Why does Hegel begin with this section?
3. Hegel uses 'person' and 'personality' in a special sense. What, if anything, is the difference between a 'person' and a 'subject', 'individual', 'human being'?
4. What, specifically, are the abstract rights, or rights of persons?
5. Are these abstract rights 'natural rights' in Hegel's view?
6. Hegel says "Since particularity, in the person, is not yet present as freedom, everything which depends on particularity is here a matter of indifference."(PR 37 Addition) What do you think Hegel means by particularity here, and by saying that everything that depends on it is "indifferent"?
7. What sort of will do persons possess: a natural will (PR 11), an arbitrary will (PR 15), or a free will (PR 23)?
II. Property
1. What is the difference between possession and property?
2. How do we tell whether something is in fact my property--for example, are the fish in the stream which I have title to my 'property', in Hegel's view?
3. Suppose I own land but never built anything on it, and never even visit the land; several years ago a stranger built a cabin on my land and has lived there ever since; though she has used the land for years, and I have not, is the cabin (and the land under it) still my property, in Hegel's view? Why or why not?
4. Why must we have private property, in Hegel's view? What is the necessity of this institution? Would Hegel be committed to private property if, historically, the institution never developed?
5. Hegel says a person has a right to place his will in any thing (PR
44, cf. PR 47) but he doesn't seem to think someone can have property in
another person's body, PR 57; he also says there is no right to commit
suicide (PR 70). How does Hegel justify these claims? Can he consistently
oppose slavery on the ground that rights to my person are inalienable,
yet say I have no right to kill myself?
III. Contract
1. Why does Hegel start speaking about contracts after his discussion of property? Why does he talk about contracts at all?
2. What is Hegel's position on social contract theories of the state?
3. Suppose I promise to bring you a check for $5000 for your car by next Wednesday and you agree to hold it for me (but I have not left a down payment). Prior to my actually bringing you the check, do you have an obligation not to sell your car to someone else, according to Hegel? Why or why not?
IV. Wrong
1. How do we get to the section 'Wrong' from the section on 'Contracts'?
2. Hegel says there are three sorts of wrongs. What are they, and what is the significance of making this distinction?
3. Hegel says a crime is an 'infinite negative judgment'--what do you think he means?
4. Hegel sharply criticizes Anselm Feuerbach's theory of punishment (PR 99 Addition). Why? What is Hegel's own theory of why we punish and how does he justify his account, as against Feuerbach's?
5. Who punishes the criminal in the section Abstract Right?
6. Hegel says that the "concept of morality is not just a requirement;
it has emerged in the course of this movement itself."(PR 103) What does
he mean? How did we get from the section Abstract Right to the section
Morality?