In Hegelian construction of the rational state, Hegel emphasizes universality as the fundamental principle but does not ignore the importance of subjective freedom. Some Western scholars have thus questioned Marx’s critique of Hegel's view of the state in his Contribution to Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law. To respond to this challenge, it is crucial to clarify the differences between Marx and Hegel on the universality of the state. Hegel gives the state a divine basis, emphasizing that the universality of the state originates from objective reason. Marx, on the other hand, based on the position of the people, proposes that the universality of the state is the objectification of the people’s will. For how to retreat the universality of the state to the people themselves, Marx’s early solution underwent a shift from true democracy to proletarian revolution, a shift related to Marx’s logical setting of the universality of the people from a priori to the reality of material production. Through this transformation, Marx not only reveals the material roots of the illusion of independence gained by the state but also transforms the origin of universality from the spirit to the proletariat, finding out a realistic path to take back universality to the people through the material production and revolutionary practice of the proletariat.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:Philosophical Research.2023.No.2.