A Brief Analysis Of The Concept Of "Estates" In Hegel’s Elements Of The Philosophy Of Right

The concept of estates is an important concept in Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right.The emergence of estates is a gradual process,and its origin can be traced back to the emotion of love.Love is the foundation of family.The family is the primary organizational form of a person.After development and disintegration of family,people enter the civil society.In the civil society,people always concentrate on their own self-interest and their own needs.As a result,a collection of people based on common needs gathered,and estates appears.The meaning of the concept of estates in this book is not constant,it changes from an economic concept to a political concept.Hegel first proposed the concept of estates in the chapter 201 in Section 2: Civil Society in Part Three: Ethical and used it as a vocational concept.He distinguished the estates of agricultural,the estates of industrial,and the estates of general.The agricultural estates takes the production of natural products as its occupation,the industrial estates takes the processing and exchange of natural products as its occupation,and the general estates is the civil servant estates,they take the welfare of citizens as their vocation.Since a person’s vocation is directly related to his ability of acquiring wealth,estates is not only a vocational concept,but also an economic concept.Around chapter 250 talking about The Police and the Corporation,Hegel analyzed the collective existence form of people in the industrial estates—the trade association.As a platform for people in the industrial estates to participate in public affairs,the trade association has a political function,which means that the concept of estates starts to have political meaning.Later,around chapter 301 in Section 3: The State talking about The Legislative Power,Hegel analyzed the way how civil servant estates participate in politics—use executive authority and how agricultural estates participate in politics—becoming a sovereign.Then Hegel also regarded estates as an intermediary between people and states.People participate in the political life of the state through estates as an intermediary.Estates is no longer a single economic concept,but also a political concept.The concept of estates is not only a tool for Hegel’s social analysis,but also a clue to Hegel’s theory of "family-civil society-state".The concept of estates developed from an economic concept to a political concept,revealing the identity behind political status and economic status.The most famous development of the estates in the Elements of the Philosophy of Right is undoubtedly Marx’s criticism of Hegel’s Elements of the Philosophy of Right.In the Criticism Marx made up for the inadequacies in Hegel’s estates theory.He used this as an inspiration to develop his own theory of class struggle.Hegel’s theory of the connection between political status and economic status was developed by Marx,and this connection can be a good explanation and solution to some contemporary political issues.