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.

https://meiner.de/fmv_de/hegel-studien-band-57-13990