ONE OF THE SOURCES OF
CONTEMPORARY REPUBLICAN
POLITICAL THEORY IS,
OF COURSE, ARISTOTLE,
WHO EMPHASIZED THE IMPORTANCE
FOR A FULL HUMAN LIFE
OF SHARING IN SELF RULE.
BUT ARISTOTLE THOUGHT THAT
HUMAN PURPOSES, OR THE KEY LOSS
OF HUMAN LIFE THAT LED
TO THE POLIS, WAS FIXED.
HEGEL CAME AFTER THE
ENLIGHTENMENT, AFTER KANT,
AND HE TRIED TO INCORPORATE THE
MODERN ASPIRATION FOR FREEDOM
AND ITS UNIVERSAL ASPIRATION
WITH THE ARISTOTELIAN INSIGHT
ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF
POLITICS TO THE GOOD LIFE,
AND THE IMPORTANCE OF POLITICS
BEING SITUATED OR LOCATED
IN A PARTICULAR PLACE.
FOR ARISTOTLE, THE POLIS
BOUNDED THE POLITICAL,
AND BY THE TIME OF
THE ENLIGHTENMENT,
WE HAVE IN KANT, THE ASPIRATION
TO UNIVERSAL FREEDOM.
WHAT HEGEL TRIED TO DO WAS TO
INCORPORATE THE IDEA THAT THERE
IS A UNIVERSAL
FREEDOM THAT WE ASPIRE
TO, WITH THE IDEA THAT WE CAN
ONLY REALIZE THAT FREEDOM,
WE CAN ONLY REALIZE
THE UNIVERSAL,
THROUGH ITS PARTICULAR
EXPRESSIONS.
AND THAT MEANS THAT EVEN THE
STATE, EVEN THE ETHICAL LIFE,
REQUIRES A KIND OF
PLURAL ARTICULATION
IN THE INSTITUTIONS
OF CIVIL SOCIETY.
OTHERWISE, WE CAN'T WIN THROUGH
TO A KIND OF UNIVERSAL FREEDOM.
FREEDOM CAN'T BE ATTAINED
JUST BY THE INDIVIDUAL
EXERCISING HIS
RIGHTS AND RESPECTING
THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS,
BECAUSE IT REQUIRES
A KIND OF POLITICAL FORMATION, A
DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN VIRTUES,
AN ORIENTATION TO
THE COMMON GOOD.
BUT THE ORIENTATION
TO THE COMMON GOOD
REQUIRES THAT WE HAVE PARTICULAR
COMMUNITIES OR PARTICULAR GOODS
WITHIN CIVIL SOCIETY,
OR WITHIN THE ESTATES,
AS HEGEL CALLED THEM.
AND THE IDEA OF
ARTICULATED FREEDOM,
SITUATED FREEDOM THAT
PLAYS ITSELF OUT,
THAT GESTURES TOWARD
THE UNIVERSAL,
BUT ONLY THROUGH ITS
PARTICULAR EXPRESSIONS,
THAT, IT SEEMS TO ME, IS A
POWERFUL INSIGHT OF HEGEL'S
THAT'S RELEVANT TO OUR TIME,
BECAUSE WHAT WE SEE NOW
IN THE MODERN WORLD,
IN MODERN POLITICS,
IS A TENDENCY TO EMPHASIZE
THE RIGHTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL,
AND THEN TO EMPHASIZE THE
CLAIMS OF THE UNIVERSAL KIND
OF COSMOPOLITAN MORAL
OR POLITICAL ASSET.
BUT WHAT THAT LEAVES OUT
IS THE GREAT IN BETWEEN.
IT LEAVES OUT THE
INSTITUTIONS OF CIVIL SOCIETY
THAT COULD POSSIBLY
CREATE, THE CHARACTERS
COULD PROVIDE THE KIND
OF CIVIC EDUCATION
THAT COULD DRAW PEOPLE
OUT OF THEIR OWN SELF
INTERESTED PURSUITS,
CULTIVATE AN ORIENTATION
TO THE COMMON GOOD.
IT'S HARD TO CULTIVATE A
COMMITMENT TO THE COMMON GOOD
WHEN IT'S SO ABSTRACT AS TO
BE THE UNIVERSAL COMMUNITY
OF HUMANKIND.
FOR CERTAIN MORAL
PURPOSES, IT WILL
BE INCREASINGLY
IMPORTANT TO CULTIVATE
A SENSE OF COSMOPOLITAN
CITIZENSHIP
FOR PURPOSES OF
GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS,
FOR EXAMPLE, OR FOR GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY.
BUT MOST OF THE TIME,
WE LIVE OUR LIVES
BY SMALLER SOLIDARITIES.
AND CIVIC EDUCATION
CAN'T JUST TAKE PLACE
AT THE LEVEL OF THE UNIVERSAL,
OR THE MOST COSMOPOLITAN LEVEL.
THAT'S WHY WE NEED INTERMEDIATE
INSTITUTIONS, INSTITUTIONS
OF CIVIL SOCIETY RANGING FROM
FAMILIES, TO NEIGHBORHOODS,
TO COMMUNITIES, TO
SCHOOLS AND CONGREGATIONS,
TO THE WORKPLACE.
TO COMMUNITIES DEFINED PERHAPS
LINGUISTICALLY, OR BY CULTURE.
WE NEED INTERMEDIATE
INSTITUTIONS,
AND FORMS OF COMMUNITY
TO DRAW US OUT
OF OUR OWN INDIVIDUAL PURSUITS
TO ACQUAINTS US WITH THE HABIT,
TO CULTIVATE THE HABIT OF
ATTENDING TO THE WHOLE,
OR AT LEAST TO A WHOLE
LARGER THAN OURSELVES.
THE ONLY WAY TO INCULCATE
THESE HABITS, OR AT LEAST
AN IMPORTANT WAY IS THROUGH
INTERMEDIATE INSTITUTIONS,
AND FORMS OF COMMUNITY.
AND I THINK HEGEL WAS ON TO
THIS FUNDAMENTAL INSIGHT.
AND HE WANTED TO
RECONCILE THE IMPORTANCE
OF INTERMEDIATE INSTITUTIONS
THAT FORM IDENTITY
WITH THE ASPIRATION
TO UNIVERSAL FREEDOM.
AND THAT PART OF
HEGEL'S VIEW, I THINK,
IS A CRUCIAL CORRECTIVE TO
THE FAMILIAR ASSUMPTIONS
OF OUR TIME, WHICH
VERY OFTEN LEAVE OUT
OF ACCOUNT THE
INTERMEDIATE INSTITUTIONS
AND IDENTITY FORMING
PRACTICES OF CIVIL SOCIETY.
THE INDIVIDUAL LEFT TO
HIS OR HER OWN DEVICES
WILL BE SWAMPED,
WILL BE OVERWHELMED
WHEN TURNING TO TRY
TO CONFRONT THE WORLD
AND EXERCISE AGENCY WITHOUT
THESE INTERMEDIATE INSTITUTIONS
OF CIVIL SOCIETY.
AND SO FROM HEGEL
COMES THE IMPORTANCE,
I THINK, OF THESE INTERMEDIATE
INSTITUTIONS TO FREEDOM.
NOT JUST FOR THE SAKE OF KIND
OF COZY COMMONALITY AND WARMTH,
AND FRATERNITY, BUT EVEN FOR
THE SAKE OF FREEDOM ITSELF.
IF YOU TAKE SERIOUSLY THE
IDEA THAT FREEDOM REQUIRES
THE EXERCISE OF SELF GOVERNMENT,
AND THAT SELF GOVERNMENT
REQUIRES THE CULTIVATION OF
VIRTUES, THEN IT SEEMS TO ME
THE QUESTION ARISES IN WHAT
PARTICULAR SETTINGS WILL VIRTUE
BE FORMED?
WILL QUALITIES OF CHARACTER
NECESSARY TO SELF RULE
BE CULTIVATED?
AND HEGEL LEADS US
TO THAT QUESTION.
