Abstract
In a series of impressive articles, Kenneth Westphal argues that Hegel should be understood as a natural law constructivist. In this essay, I examine what Westphal means by this, showing that any such position requires postulating rights or duties that exist prior to the formation of political institutions. I show that Hegel consistently denies the existence of any such natural rights or duties and conclude that he must have a fundamentally different, non-foundationalist conception of the fundamental task of moral philosophy.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 45-56 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | The Owl of Minerva: Journal of the Hegel Society of America |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 1-2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2016 |