Hegel’s Critics on Legal Profession

Keywords: Hegel, Principles of philosophy of law, recognition, exploitation, legal profession

English abstract: The aim of the article is a question about the actuality of the Hegelian concept of law, presented in the Principles of the philosophy of law. For Hegel, the law is the most important element in the structure of a capitalist society, because it funds the mutual recognition of individuals, which gives social relationships a foundation not in the dialectic of rule and servitude, but in the submission of all authorities to general legal norms. The analysis of selected contemporary practices that allow for the choice of jurisdiction calls into question the Hegelian concept, since these practices show that the general principle is broken – abstract norms of law no longer have to apply to everyone. The second part of the article is devoted to the analysis of criticism of legal profession to which Hegel accused the responsibility for alienating the law from society and thus blurring the relationship between law and freedom. The question will be asked whether Hegel’s criticism can be applied to contemporary problems in the relationship between law and society. Whether the law continues to be, as Hegel wanted it to be, a rational means of meeting the needs of individuals, or whether, on the contrary, it is increasingly becoming a source of exploitation.

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