THE CONCEPT OF WILL IN HEGEL'S PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT: INTRODUCTION

Abstract

At the Introduction of Philosophy of Right, Hegel is concerned about to present the concept of free will or self-determination. In his analysis he presents three moments or conceptions of will: The universality, the particularity and the individuality. The universality is the conception of will as pure thought, that is, the abstraction of any contends and the focus only in the form of the thought. At the particularity, the will is conceived as a will of specific subject which has a specific contends: a desiring "I" which desires a specific object. The individuality, in turn, is the conception of will as unity of universality and particularity and that unity _ througt a process which goes by "natural will", "arbitrary will" (Willkür), and education (Bildung) _ is what Hegel conceives as free will or self-determination.