Volume 41, 1998
Political Philosophy
Ken Foldes
Pages 74-83
Does the Solution to our Present Moral and Political Dilemmas Lie in the Theories of the German Idealists?
In the wake of the postmodernist onslaught one thing is certain: morality is in crisis. Where are we to look for answers? Perhaps to the German idealists—that is, to their bold synthesis of right and freedom. This paper seeks to bring the timely issue of absolute freedom and the possibility of its total realization back into ethical-political discussion. Through a close comparison of the theories of Fichte and Hegel via a critique of the former by the latter, I show that the antidote to many of our political, moral and theological distresses may well be found in Hegel’s concept of the State and Sittlichkeiti. e., truly understood as the realization of absolute freedom, or the "We that is I."