ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to rescue G. W. F. Hegel's thought from the interpretation imposed on it by Karl Marx. It argues against Marx's claim that the Hegelian dialectic must be inverted, in order to discover the rational kernel within the mystical shell. For Marx, freedom or rationality is identical with communism that is ultimately reached through development of the consciousness of the proletariat, the overthrow of private property, and social classes. Hegel's concrete and withering critique of bourgeois society in the Philosophy of Right foreshadows at nearly every point the analysis of capitalism offered by Marx almost fifty years later. The elements of Hegel's theory missing in Marx's theory, especially the role of the state, the corporation and the universal class, are to accomplish a form of reconciliation that Marx refused to accept. Finally the chapter also argues that the dynamic aspect of Hegel's vision makes him an even better guide than Marx to the complexities and developments.
