ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to investigate G. W. F. Hegel's claim that ethical life does not simply negate but rather incorporates, or preserves, crucial elements of the Enlightenment conception of moral subjectivity that Hegel associates with the standpoint of Morality. It examines his claim that individual moral conscience has its place within the rational social order as depicted of The Philosophy of Right, "Ethical Life". The idea of moral conscience originated by Socrates finds further elaboration in the religious doctrines of Christianity, which Hegel takes to be most consistently articulated in Protestant theology. The charge that Hegel's position fails to recognize the freedom to criticize the existing social order comes closer to its mark than the other objections considered thus far. There are, for example, no passages in the Philosophy of Right that acknowledge the importance of social members having the freedom to engage in public discourse critical of their social institutions.
