ABSTRACT
James Hutchison Stirling continually emphasizes G. W. F. Hegel’s peculiar brand of rationalism. Stirling saw in the Kantian category of reciprocity the essence of Hegel’s identity of identity and non-identity. As for Hegel’s political philosophy, Stirling interpreted the idea of an objective will as an attack upon the excessive subjectivity of laissez-faire political economy. The laissez-faire approach to political economy was particularly strong and self-confident when Stirling was writing. Stirling seems to have looked upon political economy as merely poor political philosophy, whereas Hegel saw in it the explanation of bourgeois economic life and the means of introducing a subjective element into his theory of the rational state. Stirling did something to create a climate of opinion in which Hegel could be taken seriously, but he made no direct contribution to a sober appreciation and critical understanding of Hegelianism.
