THE UNITY OF IDENTITY AND DIFFERENCE AS THE ...

self-understanding in determining her responsibility for an action (“Morality”). On
Pippin’s view, the institutions and commitments presented in Sittlichkeit do not supercede
Hegel’s resolute commitment to basic rights and moral agency. Pippin justifies this claim
in terms of his interpretation of the dialectical structure of the Philosophy of Right. He
says:
The general purpose of Hegel’s practical philosophy is to describe the conditions
for the possibility of being a free subject, or of “agency,” and the results of that
account are: (i) be a “person” and respect others as “persons” (don’t violate
another’s rights; respect legitimate claims of non-interference, above all with
respect to property); (ii) be a “subject”; or be morally responsible for what you do
and regard others, all other human beings, as morally responsible beings; (iii) be
an ethical being, affirm and sustain certain ethical institutions. Or in conventional
language: act legally, act morally, act ethically; respect rights, do what is morally
obligatory and what is ethically good. 295
Like Westphal, Pippin sees “being a free subject” or “agency” as the central theme of
Hegel’s political philosophy. On his view, the three main sections of the Philosophy of
Right present three distinct but equally essential “conditions for the possibility” of self-
determination or agency. Pippin’s presentation of the dialectic, as a kind of
transcendental argument, emphasizes the complete legitimacy of the earlier dialectical
stages, the stages in which Hegel discusses themes and concepts central to liberalism.
This conception of the dialectic thereby provides the basis for his defense of Hegel’s
political philosophy against charges of anti-individualism.
Fredrick Neuhouser agrees with Westphal and Pippin about the basic
argumentative structure of the Philosophy of Right, though his account is more complex
and nuanced. Although Neuhouser does not specifically classify Hegel as a liberal, he
does claim that Hegel’s political philosophy seeks to “integrate liberalism’s concerns for
295 Neue Heft für Philosophie, p. 97
271