Abstract

Recently there have been intensive debates concerning the new defenses of liberalism and those labeled the "communitarian" critics of liberalism. The latter argue that the conceptions of the self and human agency presupposed by defenders of liberalism are deficient. For a liberal conception of the self fails to do justice to the social-historical context in which the modern individual has emerged. Liberalism neglects the communal-historical context of political activity. The terms of this debate have reached a stage where such concepts as community and communtarian are becoming increasingly vague and ambiguous. What is badly needed is a rethinking of the substantive issues that underlie these debates. In this respect, one can welcome a revival of interest in Hegel's political philosophy, for many of the issues presupposed by these current debates were thought out more carefully and thoroughly by Hegel. Smith's lucid and thoughtful book is especially timely. Smith seeks to show that the standard conception of Hegel as an antiliberal thinker is too superficial. Hegel appreciated the contributions of a liberal theory of rights and sought to expose the precise points of weakness of liberalism. Rather than being "against" liberalism, Hegel sought to incorporate the "truth" implicit in a liberal theory of rights into a more comprehensive and adequate political theory. Smith begins by adumbrating the origins of the Hegelian project. He then carefully reviews Hegel's immanent critique of the liberal theory of rights and shows how this sets the stage for Hegel's own theory of rights--a theory that gives prominence to the "right of recognition." This culminates in the Hegelian Rechtstaat, which Smith translates as "the rule of law." He completes his study by delineating Hegel's own distinctive idea of Critical Theory and what the controversial claim about the "end of history" really means.