HEGEL AND THE BUREAUCRATIC FOUNDATION OF PHILOSOPHY. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY AND THE STATE IN ELEMENTS OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF RIGHT BY HEGEL

In this paper we deal with the question of the relationship between the philosophical practice and the State in modernity, according to the conception of G.W.F. Hegel in Elements of the Philosophy of Right (henceforth HD), in order to determine if it is possible to find a "bureaucratic foundation for philosophy" in that work. First, we indicate the immediate precedents of this reflection, by analyzing the positions of Kant and Schelling. Second, we define the concept of a "bureaucratic foundation" in general, and we provide two historical examples taken from the extra-academic field, in one case, and from an academic science, in the other. Then, in an attempt to demonstrate the existence of a bureaucratic foundation for philosophy in FD, by Hegel, we expound the characterizations of philosophy and bureaucracy as a public service according to the author's point of view. In the Conclusion, we compare both characterizations in order to offer arguments in favor of the existence of an identity between the task of philosophy and public service, both established by Hegel in FD, and finish by concluding that in this work the Prussian philosopher formulates a bureaucratic foundation for philosophy.