Hegel’s Universalism and Its Crisis
Christian Schmidt
Hegel-Studien Band 57 (2024)

Abstract: In this paper, I examine the meaning and preconditions of Hegel’s claim that the
criminal wills punishment. I analyse this claim in the light of Hegel’s theory of what it means to
exercise one’s free will. In order to explain the criminal’s inability to break free from the law, I
introduce the concept of a Hegelian universality and present private property and contract as
universalities of this kind. Hegelian universalities, I argue, have an historical character and are the
basis of modernity’s self-criticism. Property and contract are cases in point.

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