IRREDUCIBILITY AND DIALECTICAL CONSTITUTION OF ETHICAL LIFE IN YOUNG HEGEL

Abstract

This article aims to show Hegel's original view of ethical life, that is, one that must be thought of as irreducible to its empirical genesis, in the perspective of naturalism and of individualism. With this purpose, we focus our analysis on the manuscript of 1803-1804, which later received the title of “Ethics System”. We emphasize how its dialectical constitution implies a rup­ture with modern ethical and political thought and, therefore, offers a fruitful contribution to contemporary philosophical discussion. Although we do not discuss the philosopher's mature work and remain on a very restricted textual basis, we believe that we can already discern some elements for the critique of a materialist approach to ethics.