Reason as Testing Laws Summary and Analysis

Here Hegel focuses mainly on property, possession, and their opposites—freedom and the idea of "no property." He does this is as one means of showing how reason tests laws. The section is fairly short.

He begins by describing property and no property as being opposites and coexisting ideas. Universality and particularity both exist within "no property" and "property." Here there is some unusual complexity, since the universal has its reality within the particular and the particular contains the actual form of the universal. He also tells readers that even when there is no ownership there is still need-based possession and use of a thing. Ultimately he informs readers that property is a superior concept to "no property" because, for one thing, it encourages people to think "long term" rather than "short term." The...