The topic of the present dissertation is the issue of contingency in Hegel’s Science of Logic and in his Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Through the analysis of contingency, my aim is to underline the structural link between logical and political dimension of Hegel’s philosophy.
The first chapter deals with Hegel’s analysis of contingency inside the Science of Logic: special attention is given to the dialectics of modal categories in the section on Actuality and to the relationship between necessity and contingency in the Subjective Logic. I will explain that the problem of contingency is pivotal to the speculative structures of Hegelian logic. Hence, I will show how the issue of modal logic becomes a central topic of the entire Subjective Logic.
The second chapter concerns the logic of the Objective Spirit, and its complex connection with the logic of Science of Logic: we will discuss the famous statement concerning the reciprocity of the actual and the rational, the practical-political dimension of actuality, necessity and contingency, and the link between modal categories and the idea of freedom.
The third chapter highlights the political relevance of the logical categories of contingency, necessity and actuality in Hegel’s dealing with the framework of modern political science: the theory of natural law, and also modern disciplines like political economy, administrative sciences, State’s theory, international right. From this background, it will be possible to discuss Hegel’s ideas of freedom, subjectivity, human agency, law and power, representation, political sharing and constitution, war.
Countering the mainstream interpretation, I show that Hegel’s political philosophy is not the affirmation of the blind necessity of laws, institutions and State over the subjects and their common agency. On the contrary, Hegel’s idea of the political is the outcome of an important understanding of contingency. His entire philosophy is a great attempt to face this contingent dimension