The Owl and the Rooster: Hegel's Transformative Political Science

Since 1945, there have been two waves of Anglo-American writing on Hegel's political thought. The first defended it against works portraying Hegel as an apologist of Prussian reaction and a theorist of totalitarian nationalism. The second presented Hegel as a civic humanist critic of liberalism in the tradition of Rousseau. The first suppressed elements of Hegel's thought that challenge liberalism's individualistic premises; the second downplayed Hegel's theism. This book recovers what was lost in each wave. It restores aspects of Hegel's political thought unsettling to liberal beliefs, yet that lead to a state more liberal than Locke's and Kant's, which retain authoritarian elements. It also scrutinizes Hegel's claim to have justified theism to rational insight, hence to have made it conformable to Enlightenment standards of admissible public discourse. And it seeks to show how, for Hegel, the wholeness unique to divinity is realizable among humans without concession or compromise and what role philosophy must play in its final achievement. Lastly, we are shown what form Hegel's philosophy can take in a world not yet prepared for his science. Here is Hegel's political thought undistorted.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; Part I. The Circularity Problem: 1. The limit of cognition; 2. The limit of action; Part II. The Bridge: 3. The ridde of the Phenomenology of Spirit; 4. History conceptually understood; Part III. Institutional Preconditions: 5. The reasonableness of what is; 6. Authority, constitutionalism, justice; 7. Hegel and internationalism; Conclusion.

About the Author :
Alan Brudner is Professor Emeritus of Law and Political Science at the University of Toronto, where he has taught Hegel's political and legal thought for over thirty years. He has previously published three books elaborating a Hegelian interpretation of public and private law. They are: The Unity of the Common Law: Studies in Hegelian Jurisprudence (1995, rev. ed. with Jennifer Nadler, 2013), Constitutional Goods (2004), and Punishment and Freedom (2009). He has held visiting fellowships at Oxford University and University of Cambridge. In 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Review :
'Brudner's account is, at once, broad and deep. The book is clear, engaging, erudite, and deeply intelligent. I believe that it will become widely recognized as a first-rate, original, and important contribution to our understanding of Hegel's political thought.' Peter Steinberger, Robert H. and Blanche Day Ellis Professor of Political Science and Humanities, Reed College, Oregon '[Brudner's] readers now have the opportunity to study in detail the interpretation of Hegel that lies behind [his] more narrowly jurisprudential works. They will discover the mature fruits of a lifetime of scholarly reflection, establishing Brudner as a courageous and unique voice in the very large literature on Hegel's political philosophy.' N. E. Simmonds, The Cambridge Law Journal