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The Laws of the Spirit: A Hegelian Theory of Justice
An account of Hegel's political insights and their contemporary relevance.
Drawing from a variety of Hegel's writings, Shannon Hoff articulates a theory of justice that requires answering simultaneously to three irreducibly different those of community, universality, and individuality. The domains of "ethicality," "legality," and "morality" correspond to these essential dimensions of human experience, and a political system that fails to give adequate recognition to any one of these will become oppressive. The commitment to legality emphasized in modern and contemporary political life, Hoff argues, systematically precludes adequate recognition of the formative cultural contexts that Hegel identifies under the name of "ethical life" and of singular experiences of moral duty, or conscience. Countering the perception of Hegel as a conservative political thinker and engaging broadly with contemporary work in liberalism, critical theory, and feminism, Hoff focuses on these themes of ethicality and conscience to consider how modern liberal politics must be transformed if it is to accommodate these essential dimensions of human life.
Drawing from a variety of Hegel's writings, Shannon Hoff articulates a theory of justice that requires answering simultaneously to three irreducibly different those of community, universality, and individuality. The domains of "ethicality," "legality," and "morality" correspond to these essential dimensions of human experience, and a political system that fails to give adequate recognition to any one of these will become oppressive. The commitment to legality emphasized in modern and contemporary political life, Hoff argues, systematically precludes adequate recognition of the formative cultural contexts that Hegel identifies under the name of "ethical life" and of singular experiences of moral duty, or conscience. Countering the perception of Hegel as a conservative political thinker and engaging broadly with contemporary work in liberalism, critical theory, and feminism, Hoff focuses on these themes of ethicality and conscience to consider how modern liberal politics must be transformed if it is to accommodate these essential dimensions of human life.
309 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
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August 15, 2026Shannon Hoff is quickly becoming one of my favorite scholars working on Hegel now. She's part of a larger trend of scholars who seek to rediscover the radical kernel within Hegel's seemingly conservative thought. Among these scholars are Molly Farneth, Rebecca Comay, Frank Ruda, John Russon, and of course Shannon Hoff.
Hoff stands out because of her sensitivity to Hegel's political thought. Far from hypostasizing the law and state, as a common reading goes, Hegel presents them as fundamentally reviseable. The Phenomenology teaches us that irrational law is self-undermining, but rational law is responsive to the ever-self-developing moral community known as Spirit, or Geist. Justice, then, does not reside in the cold machinations of a legal system that is alien to lived experience; rather, justice emerges through our continual renegotiation of laws that express and protect free, flourishing social life. As such, law-as-oppression is, over the course of history, overcome and replaced with law-as-condition-for-freedom.
In her other work, Hoff has attempted to use Hegel to promote anti-colonial and feminist projects. Prior to reading this book, these projects sounded odd. (After all, wasn't Hegel famously pro-colonialism and misogynistic?) Not so anymore. Hoff convincingly argues that Hegel gives us the conceptual tools to perform an immanent critique of political society for the advancement of a more rational, more relational, and more recognitive community.
Hoff stands out because of her sensitivity to Hegel's political thought. Far from hypostasizing the law and state, as a common reading goes, Hegel presents them as fundamentally reviseable. The Phenomenology teaches us that irrational law is self-undermining, but rational law is responsive to the ever-self-developing moral community known as Spirit, or Geist. Justice, then, does not reside in the cold machinations of a legal system that is alien to lived experience; rather, justice emerges through our continual renegotiation of laws that express and protect free, flourishing social life. As such, law-as-oppression is, over the course of history, overcome and replaced with law-as-condition-for-freedom.
In her other work, Hoff has attempted to use Hegel to promote anti-colonial and feminist projects. Prior to reading this book, these projects sounded odd. (After all, wasn't Hegel famously pro-colonialism and misogynistic?) Not so anymore. Hoff convincingly argues that Hegel gives us the conceptual tools to perform an immanent critique of political society for the advancement of a more rational, more relational, and more recognitive community.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review