ABSTRACT
Civil society is the stage of difference which intervenes between the family and the state. Moreover, the creation of civil society is the achievement of the modern world which has for the first time given all determinations of the Idea their due." So writes Hegel in his introductory, and most general, characterization of the nature of civil society. The starting point for this movement of ethical consciousness lies within the natural unity of the family, echoing for Hegel the way in which classical political philosophy began with the Greek citizen's immersion in the natural unity of the polis. Hegel's analysis and defense of private property rights is one of the most politically important consequences of his philosophic commitment to idealism. Hegel's metaphysical deduction of private property rights in the "Abstract Right" section of the Philosophy of Right follows directly from his identification of the will as the source of right.
