It is often thought that Marx regarded Hegel’s philosophy of right as a defense of the Prussian state, but in his critique of politics around 1843, Marx repeatedly emphasized that the Prussian state was a pre-modern “Christian state” without achieving political emancipation, which not only lagged behind the contemporary modern European states, but was also below the level of the Hegelian rational state. Marx made double criticism to Hegel’s philosophy of right, revealing not only the logical mysticism of Hegel’s philosophy of right, but also criticizing Hegel’s concrete solutions to the problem of civil society. This critique turned Marx’s vision from the backward Prussian state to the reflection on the modern state that had completed political liberation. It was precisely because Marx realized that the defects of modern states are rooted in civil society that he later turned his theoretical interest to the critique of civil society.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Liu Tingting

From:Studies on Marxist Theory.2023.No.8.