Introduction

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel showed how to account for the existing world while constructing an ideal. Interpretations of the relation between Hegel and Karl Marx once hinged on what was held to be a seismic difference between their respective historical periods. Hegel was assumed to have written in, and about, an almost feudal Germany, while occasionally peeking out from the continent to dimly espy a still embryonic industrial England. His essay also demonstrated a better understanding of the character of English politics than Marx was able to achieve. While the latter proposed that capital ruled the English state, Hegel saw that aristocrats were firmly in charge, and likely to remain so for some time. Hegel remarked often on the absence of a real state in England, the lack of an effective countervailing force to the sway of the market. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.