Hegel, Hobbes, and the Political Underpinnings of Necessity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbphil.2026.2.15Keywords:
ontology, society, politics, dialectic, sovereigntyAbstract
Hegel and Hobbes held distinctive and incompatible perspectives on necessity. Analyzing those perspectives contributes to a better understanding of their overall philosophies, especially in the case of their political philosophies. This article explores Hegelian and Hobbesian understandings of necessity in logical, ontological, theological, social, economic and political matters. In each of these fields, Hegelian necessity is proven to be more or less Hobbesian freedom and the other way around. This endeavor takes place with the aim of deepening the understanding of the political philosophy of both thinkers with reference to authority. The major objective of the article consists in revealing the subversive implications of Hegel’s political philosophy by placing it in contrast with the innovative yet authoritarian political philosophy of Hobbes. The paper advances by investigating how necessity is radically different in the philosophies of Hegel and Hobbes and how it reverberates in the above mentioned fields: logical, ontological, theological, social, economic and political. Since the writings of these both hugely influential thinkers are underlined by deep and powerful political nuances, I argue new light can be shed on their political philosophies, especially on that of Hegel, with the help of the comparative analysis this paper proposes.
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