ABSTRACT
In one of the most famous texts from Hegel’s Frankfurt era, The Oldest System Program of German Idealism, he seems to repeat the Romantic critique of the state as a machine:
This passage has long served as a point of support for those who would like to distinguish between the revolutionary leanings of the early Hegel and the later Hegel’s defense of the role of the state. Further, it seems to suggest that the early Hegel, like the early German Romantics, embraces an organic model of society, in which freedom is made possible through the organic bonds of cultural unity, while the project of legislation and state regulation merely serves to destroy this freedom.2 However, it is my argument that this simple equation of Hegel’s critique of the state in this period with the Romantic position obscures far deeper differences regarding the nature of Hegel’s early political commitments. A closer look at Hegel’s use of machine metaphors in his pre-systematic writings, those prior to his move to Jena in 1800, will reveal the crucial role that this figure plays in his early attempt to diagnose the relation between religious alienation and political oppression.
