Political Theory

This book has a bold thesis. Hegel and Marx are not the philosophical opposites they are usually taken to be: their dialectical methods are identical. So too are their theories of needs. Both, it seems, regard labour to satisfy our natural needs as the source of unfreedom, and automation as the avenue to liberation. The attempt is made to establish this interpretation through an exposition of Hegel’s views on needs in his Jena lectures, the Philosophy of Right and (more unusually) the Aesthetics. However, the description of these works seldom ventures far from Hegel’s own words. Marx’s ideas are somewhat better digested. The exposition of them proceeds mainly through a critical discussion of Agnes Heller. Though important issues are touched upon and some useful material brought to light, too often the treatment is sketchy and superficial. The considerable problems facing the book’s main theses are not addressed. The book seems more like a collection of preliminary notes and thoughts than a finished work.