Hegel's Perspectives on Capitalism and Freedom

This paper discusses Hegel's perspectives on capitalism and freedom, emphasizing the moral and social bases of property and capital. It also highlights the ideas of Schein in Hegel's Science of Logic and the structure of ideology in generalized view and exclusively, the principles of equality and freedom in capitalism.

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Introduction
Freedom is inconceivable without negation. The ability to critically counteract the givens
of the existence of freedom, whether they have been derived from biology or from cultural
patterns tends to provide the foundation for the subject’s self-determination. Hegel with the
competence to distinguish the central role that negation involves itself in the creativity of
subjectivity has been a prominent philosopher of freedom. The foundation for Hegel’s
conception of capitalism has been understood as the sphere of civil society, the middle zone in
the theoretical aspect of ethical life. Furthermore, in the view of Etzioni (2014), in current times,
the political expression along with the economic realism have been essentially obtaining
transformed consideration to the appropriate function of the administration in the financial
system, reopening in the course comprehensively related subjects of supporting economy1.
Meanwhile, Hegel’s justification regarding the facets of “civil society” as a subject of personal
autonomy has been significantly distinguished as well as enabled him to be a supporter of free
enterprise as well as the ‘minimal’ state. Murphy and Parkey (2016) argued that in terms of
Hegel the autonomy or lack of restrictions of the exacting within the state of affairs in the end
does not guarantee institutionally if the monetary classification fails to enclose monetary axis of
result free of the state. Consequently a structure of liberated market financial system can further
be perceived as enduring institutional backer of the self-determination of the individual.
However, such assertions according to Etzioni (2014) did not signify that the liberated market be
basically left to itself2. The widespread has been forced based on the judicial system along with
the police or public influence; however the obligation has been acceptable not by the condition
1 Etzioni, Amitai. "Common good." The encyclopedia of political thought (2014): 603-610.
2 Murphy, Tim, and Jeff Parkey. "An economic analysis of the philosophical common good." International Journal
of Social Economics 43, no. 8 (2016): 823-840.

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of the collective but by the egotism of the individual. Thus the purpose of the state in the logic of
the external state such as civil society and further in the view of the state proper seems to be
minimal in consideration to the economic order. The following paper will argue on the way
freedom has been exploited in the capitalist society by casting light on Hegel’s perspectives
related to the moral as well as social bases of property and capital. Additionally, it will
emphasize that the ideas of Schein in Hegel’s Science of Logic fundamentally articulates the
structure of ideology in generalized view and exclusively, the principles of equality and freedom
in capitalism.
Discussion
According to Smith (2015), Hegel in the foremost part of the Science of Logic, the logic
of being fundamentally discussed the fundamental groupings which explain the world, as it is
immediately accessible to individuals. The chore of the logic of essence, which pursued the logic
of individual, provided the fundamental method of groupings with which to take hold of the
indispensable structure of the world3. Hegel further initiated the logic of essence with the
category of Schein (semblance) in order to justify the way being has been reachable to
individuals that is the way scheint related to essence. Moreover studies of Jütten (2015) claimed
that the category of facade symbolized the way being is ‘sublated’ or assimilated in essence. The
logic of essence has purposed to offer the essential structure of concepts in order to comprehend
the unseen conditions of the visible individuals. Furthermore, in the view of Smith (2015), the
sense of essence reflected the logic which acquired exclusively through the study of relations.
From the position of the logic of essence what appeared as self-subsistent individual developed
in reality as not self-subsistent but as the effect of certain associations, reasons, implications,
3 Smith, Tony. "Hegel and capitalism: Marxian perspectives." Proceedings of the Hegel Society of America 22
(2015): 181-198.

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arguments, circumstances, services which constituted individuals4. Similarly as per the studies of
Jütten (2015), the way capitalism appeared to individuals primarily produced in the course of the
logic of being suggesting capitalism to be essentially as a market economy. Thus, it has been
noted that individuals in market dealings must be equal before the law and trade of commodities
of equivalent price.
Comprehensive studies of Thompson (2015) stated that in market dealings individuals
have been considered self-subsistent fragments which tend to be peripheral to the association
which develop the level of equivalence5. Furthermore, as individuals tend to show freedom in
market transactions, individuals who fail to appropriate the assets of others by power or by the
means of hostility, however by treating individuals as the landlord who can dispose of it at one’s
own free determination thus reflecting the way capitalism emerged to individuals. Drawing
relevance to these implications, Obeng-Odoom (2016) exposed that the freedom and equal
opportunity acquired in trade essentially emerged as the surface development, under which
wholly diverse developments take their occurrences whereby such an apparent impartiality and
freedom fade away. Thus contemporary authors have asserted that capitalism individuals tend to
indivisible from social dealings, thus systematically determined by them6. Further to this, such
social dealings signified as relations of supremacy and inequality. Thus drawing relevance to
Hegel’s assertions Murphy and Parkey (2016) stated that the logic of being appeared as false
ontology which tends to hide the factual ontology of essence. However, the certainty of essence
4 Jütten, Timo. "Is the market a sphere of social freedom?." critical horizons 16, no. 2 (2015): 187-203.
5 Thompson, Michael J. "Capitalism as deficient modernity: Hegel against the modern economy." Proceedings of the
Hegel Society of America 22 (2015): 117-132.
6 Obeng-Odoom, Franklin. "Property in the commons: Origins and paradigms." Review of Radical Political
Economics 48, no. 1 (2016): 9-19.

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does not basically destroy the falseness of individuals. On the other hand, Obeng-Odoom (2016)
claimed that essence, while opposing individual existence primarily conserved being as the
individualistic constitutive moment further implying that the truth of essence assimilates the
falsity of individual freedom7.
. Meanwhile, Lo and David Solomon (2014) noted that for Hegel, manifestation appeared
to be a highly determinate category than semblance. While Hegel eventually initiated the logic of
essence with the type of semblance, he explained appearance at the concluding phase in the logic
of essence, and, prominently, following the discussion of the type of ‘ground’. For Hegel,
semblance indicated the remaining of being in essence8. To understanding of Pippin (2017), it
implied to a form of closeness which did not fundamentally practice the reconciliation activity of
essence. Furthermore, in contradiction, appearance appeared to be a sort of immediacy or
closeness which developed from as well as grounded in essence. In Hegel’s words, appearance
emerged as the essentiality which had developed into immediacy, a being which turned out forth
from disapproval and inwardness of essence. This further stated appearance as a state that of
being or survival that has been fully mediated or generated through the ‘relationality’ of essence.
Moreover in the view of Hegel, Friedrich and Miller (2015), manifestation reflects to a proper
and satisfactory phrase of spirit, while semblance primarily reflected the inaccurate facets related
to essence which sustained from the closeness of existence9. On the other hand, freedom and
equality distinguished as false terms of essence act as manifestation related to the essence of
7 Lo, P. C., and David Solomon. "The Common Good." In The Common Good: Chinese and American Perspectives,
pp. 3-18. Springer, Dordrecht, 2014.
8 Pippin, Robert B. "What is the Question for which Hegel’s Theory of Recognition is the Answer?." In GWF Hegel,
pp. 171-188. Routledge, 2017.
9 Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, and A. V. Miller. "Phenomenology of spirit." Central Works of Philosophy
Central Works of Philosophy is a multi-volume set of essays on the core texts of the Western philosophical tradition.
From Plato’s Republic to the present day, the volumes range over 2,500 years of philosophical writing covering the
best, most representative, and most influential work of some of our greatest philoso (2015): 69.

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capitalism. However, Singer (2018) claimed that the level of propensity associated with the
increase of the functioning, continual technological developments along with the advanced
mechanization of the labour practice as well as mass unemployment directly emerged from the
idea of capitalism thus relating to its appearances10.
Hegel’s analysis on capitalism and freedom successfully alarmed several scholars who
emphasized on the fact that that the formation of ideology and beliefs tend to contradict each
other. Thus, equality and freedom in the view of Anderson (2016) had their significance in
capitalism but not intentionally but to a certain extent as being invalid within the associations of
dominance of essence. Significantly it had been noted by authors that Hegel’s analysis
successfully threw light on the inaccuracies to perceive concepts of equality and freedom as
determined by the idea of domination and to some degree break out from the purpose of real
meaning11. However, as such ideas escape from true essence in such an approach, there can be
witnessed certain remains of freedom and equality for individuals living in the capitalist society
capitalism that has its resistance to the associations of domination. On the other hand, Schmitt
(2018 stated that equality and freedom are completely conceived by the associations of
domination in such manner that they have the ability to only function as an instant of the essence
of domination. Furthermore, in other words, equality and freedom in capitalism simply facilitate
the organization of domination to uphold it. Moreover, the relation of supremacy, power and
control in capitalism did not emerge in an innate manner or prearranged but has been attained in
the course of conciliation of the relation of equality12. Significantly, as per the studies of Veljak
10 Singer, Peter. Marx: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, 2018.
11 Anderson, Kevin B. Marx at the margins: on nationalism, ethnicity, and non-western societies. University of
Chicago Press, 2016.
12 Schmitt, Richard. Introduction to Marx and Engels: a critical reconstruction. Routledge, 2018.

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(2014), the essences of domination reflected no significant thing despite of the relational
structure which had been acquired between power and equality and further recursively
represented domination. The essence of domination thus called for equality in order to function,
but at the same time domination produced the ‘required’ fairness13. These assertions however
signified that the construction of domination in capitalism had been self-grounding which
requires no demand towards any forms of external or prearranged influence be it in an intentional
manner as seem in ancient Greece or the power of God witnessed in medieval times for its
position.
At this juncture, Marx’s idea on the belief and principles or semblance of equality and
freedom must be taken into consideration. Lewis (2015) had observed that Marx’s notion of the
philosophy or impression of equality and freedom, in regards to the logical structure showed an
integrated likeness towards Hegel’s appearance in the Logic14. However, as Marx’s dialectical
consideration significantly rooted in the socioeconomic theory he considered the essential
characteristic of capitalism to be discerned from capitalism from the earlier modes of production
that reflected the foundation of wage labour. According to Urbina Lazardi and Virgilio (2015),
the relation concerning wage-labour acted a vital source of the semblance or appearance of
equality as well as freedom in capitalism. These scholars further emphasized on the way Marx
evaluated the relation of wage-labour in two successive stages which represented the degree to
which as it occurred in the dominion of the market or in other sense the subject of ‘circulation’ of
possessions. Furthermore, as per the study conducted by Sensat (2016), the dealings operated in
the market relied greatly on the factors of capitalism which had no evidence to individuals. In
13 Veljak, Lino. "Hegel and Marx in the Times of Globalization." Facta Universitatis, Series: Philosophy, Sociology,
Psychology and History (2014): 1-7.
14 Lewis, John. Marxism & the Open Mind (RLE Marxism). Routledge, 2015.

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addition to this the extent to which it took place as an instant of the sum of wealth included the
area of financial exchange along with the sphere of ‘production’ of properties15. For Marx, the
whole of economy had been considered as capital that served as a relational structure with no
specific relevance to individuals and thus can be comprehended only through theoretical
investigation.
Contemporary authors such as Painter et al (2015) efficiently concentrated on Marx’s
analysis which stated that labour contracts primarily developed in the field of exchange or the
market. In capitalist society, labour constituted the accountability to selling the commodity he
possessed regarded as his ‘labour-power’, to the entrepreneur or bourgeoisie class in return to
which a certain amount of wage was received16. In capitalism, according to Yeomans (2015),
such labourers also perceived as proletariat had self-regulation whereby he had the ability to
disaffect his labour-power and further sell it, in exchange for earnings, to whomever the worker
wished for. Besides, such business deal in capitalist society between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat and the labourers accurately pursued. These factors in the view of Ince and Ulas
(2016) never led Marx to be drained of highlighting the universal law of exchange of equals.
Meanwhile, authors found that the capitalist compensated the full price of labour-power which
involved no acts of corruption or unethical acts17. Marx further accepted that the subject related
to circulation served as a very ‘Eden of the innate rights of man’, thus functioned as a restricted
sphere of freedom and equality’. The freedom and equality in such scenarios acquired by the
15 Urbina Lazardi, Virgilio. "Ideology, Fetish, and Social Scientific Method in Karl Marx's Capital." PhD diss.,
Columbia University, 2015.
16 Sensat, Julius. "Marx: Economic Estrangement." In The Logic of Estrangement, pp. 74-110. Palgrave Macmillan,
London, 2016.
17 Painter, Desmond, David Pavón-Cuéllar, and Leonardo Moncada. "Convulsive times, revolutionary subjects:
Reflections on Marxism and critical psychology." Annual Review of Critical Psychology 12 (2015): 6-16.

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means of market transactions were seen as genuine as well as purposive. Nonetheless, Vighi
(2016) highlighted the way Marx distinguished these and undeniably the whole transaction with
‘pure semblance’. The market thus in the Marxist approach reflected the occurrence of a practice
happening behind it18. Furthermore, the development occurring at the back represented the
process of manufacture of possessions and commodities.
At this juncture, the values of labour-power extracted from bourgeoisies have been taken
into utmost consideration which represented it as an unusual commodity. According to
Thiemann (2014) the value of consumption, exploitation had operated as the concrete procedure
of labour, which added up to the sphere of labour production. However, in the process of
production, labourers of the capitalist society by the means of his labour chiefly generated
greater amount of prices and value than the value which he paid in the exchange of wages19.
Marx further segregated the working day accounted as ten hours into two vital parts. According
to Urbina Lazardi and Virgilio (2015), the initial part during which a value tends to equal to the
value of labour-power of approximately for hours had been produced which fundamentally
represented as ‘necessary labour’. However, through authors’ analysis of Marx’s ideas any kind
of work executed beyond the lines of necessary labour had been considered as surplus labour for
around six hours20. Meanwhile, Painter et al (2015) posed assertions that as the production of
surplus-value had been regarded as an indispensible attribute of capitalism, there must be high
level of significance of surplus-labour. Indeed, the exclusive explanation stating that capitalist
bourgeoisie primarily aimed in exploiting the labourer had been for the latter’s surplus-labour.
18 Yeomans, Christopher. "Power as Control and the Therapeutic Effects of Hegel’s Logic." Hegel Bulletin 36, no. 1
(2015): 33-52.
19 Ince, Onur Ulas. "Bringing the economy back in: Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, and the politics of capitalism." The
Journal of Politics 78, no. 2 (2016): 411-426.
20 Vighi, Fabio. "Capitalist Bulimia: Lacan on Marx and Crisis." Crisis and Critique 3 (2016): 414-432.

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Thus, observed seen from the position of the economy as a whole, there can be identified no
exchange of comparables, and further the substitute in relation to the equivalents in the field of
circulation had been merely a semblance or impression.
At this position, the exploitation of proletariat section of the society by the means f
extraction of surplus-labour had not been particular to capitalism. Authors observed that in all
class societies, a particular collection of inhabitants must exert their labour and skills at a higher
level than his capability for a successful their subsistence. However, as per Yeomans (2015)
factors which had been explicit to capitalism were the form that the removal of surplus-labour
obtained. Furthermore, in capitalist society, such withdrawal of surplus-labour essentially relied
on getting mediated through the appearance of equality acquired in the capitalist market. Such
egalitarianism had been perceived as inaccurate, nevertheless had been identified as a fallacy
which had been objective21. Thus as per the view of Thiemann (2014), capitalism served as the
control and dominance of capitalists over the proletariat or labour class typically acquired
through wage-contracts, which supposed acts of equal opportunity and freedom between
capitalists and workforce. Such level of power and domination of capitalists over working class
had its development within the structure of the totality of capital regarded as essence, which
consequently had been constituted by the supremacy of assets over the subject of circulation
perceived as semblance.
Conclusion
On a concluding note, in support of Hegel, the formation of semblance reflects significant
level of contradiction. As appearance tends to show its existence, but not as something
constructive which can occur apart from fundamental nature, but as something which had been
21 Thiemann, Louis. "How to Frame Work After Capitalism? Marxist Proletarianism, the Radical Populist Critique
and its Emerging Alternative." Perspectives In Development: 204. (2014): 172-234.

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assimilated or negated within the real meaning. At such juncture, similar conjecture had been
expressed through Marxism. The semblance of equal opportunity or the subject of circulation as
a totality tends to have its existence though not showing any form but not as something which
signified constructiveness which tends to be present apart from the entirety of assets, but rather
which attains assimilation in it. Capitalist production primarily involved the critical law of
exchange of equals but simultaneously negated such a legal procedure. In other words, in favour
of Marx, like Hegel, the assimilation or contradiction of appearance in essence had been
completed and did not show any form of bias. The equality that got hold of in the course of
market dealings ‘turns into its direct opposite’ in its entirety, because the funds which had been
paid by the bourgeoisie to the working class chiefly based on the correspondence of exchange
that had been built up through the precedent labour of other workforce. Thus in regards to
individual labourer, the study reflected that it had been the surplus labour which had been
appropriated without exchange. Furthermore, on behalf of Marx, in disparity, the freedom and
equality of the capitalist market had shown utmost vigorousness as such a form of self-
regulation, freedom and equality chiefly function as an instant of the structure of dominance in
capitalism. Lastly, for Marx, the notion behind freedom and equality qua apathy had significantly
institutionalized and thrived in the period of capitalism, and would lose the ability to hold its
existence and would eventually fade away through eradication. .

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References
Anderson, Kevin B. Marx at the margins: on nationalism, ethnicity, and non-western
societies. University of Chicago Press, 2016.
Etzioni, Amitai. "Common good." The encyclopedia of political thought (2014): 603-610.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, and A. V. Miller. "Phenomenology of spirit." Central
Works of Philosophy Central Works of Philosophy is a multi-volume set of essays on the core
texts of the Western philosophical tradition. From Plato’s Republic to the present day, the
volumes range over 2,500 years of philosophical writing covering the best, most
representative, and most influential work of some of our greatest philoso (2015): 69.
Ince, Onur Ulas. "Bringing the economy back in: Hannah Arendt, Karl Marx, and the politics
of capitalism." The Journal of Politics 78, no. 2 (2016): 411-426.
Jütten, Timo. "Is the market a sphere of social freedom?." critical horizons 16, no. 2 (2015):
187-203.
Lewis, John. Marxism & the Open Mind (RLE Marxism). Routledge, 2015.
Lo, P. C., and David Solomon. "The Common Good." In The Common Good: Chinese and
American Perspectives, pp. 3-18. Springer, Dordrecht, 2014.
Murphy, Tim, and Jeff Parkey. "An economic analysis of the philosophical common
good." International Journal of Social Economics 43, no. 8 (2016): 823-840.
Obeng-Odoom, Franklin. "Property in the commons: Origins and paradigms." Review of
Radical Political Economics 48, no. 1 (2016): 9-19.
Painter, Desmond, David Pavón-Cuéllar, and Leonardo Moncada. "Convulsive times,
revolutionary subjects: Reflections on Marxism and critical psychology." Annual Review of
Critical Psychology 12 (2015): 6-16.

12SOCIOLOGY
Pippin, Robert B. "What is the Question for which Hegel’s Theory of Recognition is the
Answer?." In GWF Hegel, pp. 171-188. Routledge, 2017.
Schmitt, Richard. Introduction to Marx and Engels: a critical reconstruction. Routledge,
2018.
Sensat, Julius. "Marx: Economic Estrangement." In The Logic of Estrangement, pp. 74-110.
Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2016.
Singer, Peter. Marx: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Smith, Tony. "Hegel and capitalism: Marxian perspectives." Proceedings of the Hegel
Society of America 22 (2015): 181-198.
THIEMANN, LOUIS. "How to Frame Work After Capitalism? Marxist Proletarianism, the
Radical Populist Critique and its Emerging Alternative." Perspectives In Development: 204.
(2014): 172-234.
Thompson, Michael J. "Capitalism as deficient modernity: Hegel against the modern
economy." Proceedings of the Hegel Society of America 22 (2015): 117-132.
Urbina Lazardi, Virgilio. "Ideology, Fetish, and Social Scientific Method in Karl Marx's
Capital." PhD diss., Columbia University, 2015.
Veljak, Lino. "Hegel and Marx in the Times of Globalization." Facta Universitatis, Series:
Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and History (2014): 1-7.
Vighi, Fabio. "Capitalist Bulimia: Lacan on Marx and Crisis." Crisis and Critique 3 (2016):
414-432.
Yeomans, Christopher. "Power as Control and the Therapeutic Effects of Hegel’s
Logic." Hegel Bulletin 36, no. 1 (2015): 33-52.
.