ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a discussion of the process of recognition in Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. It aims to compare Thomas Hodgskin’s property theory with the general outlook of Karl Marx and Hegel. The chapter provides a full treatment of the Hegelian concepts of possession and use. Despite its shortcomings, Hodgskin’s theory offers a unique perspective on the concealed Hegelian elements in Marx. His property theory resembles that worked out earlier by Hegel but largely absent in Marx. Hegel sought to develop a language that would capture the movement as well as the stasis of reality. Hegel’s notion of property has three moments, taking possession, use, and alienation. If Hegel rejected the doctrine that capital is an equal contributor in the labor process, as did Hodgskin and Marx, there is also a sense in which Hegel himself would have seen it as correct.
