Hegel and the English Reform Bill
example · historical/Hegel's biography ·
retold in 3 talks
Žižek notes that the last text Hegel published was an analysis of the English Reform Bill moving toward universal democracy, and Hegel was horrified by it, showing his awareness that a new epoch was beginning and that his own model of the state was already disintegrating.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 3
“Hegel was horrified by it. But he saw that we are entering a new epoch.”
“hegel was describing united states today, more or less. so you see, this is what i like in hegel. be careful even when he appears to be just conservative.”
“Hegel is horrified by it because he sees something that he cannot grasp, something totally new is emerging.”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
contents · one story, 3 jobsuses
bourgeois formal democracy
×1
lumpen bourgeoisie
×1
'Noch nicht dort' Hegelians (not-yet-there Hegelians)
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
alongside works
Every retelling 3
Žižek notes that the last text Hegel published was an analysis of the English Reform Bill moving toward universal democracy, and Hegel was horrified by it, showing his awareness that a new epoch was beginning and that his own model of the state was already disintegrating., illustrating Hegel's Verspätung / owl of Minerva,the Philosophy of Right as description of a dissolving form
Based on Adrian Johnston's reading of Hegel's last political text (1831 Reform Bill), Žižek shows Hegel foresaw that formal egalitarian democracy enables the new wealthy lumpen bourgeoisie to manipulate elections more opaquely than old hierarchical power, Hegel was describing the US today., illustrating formal egalitarian democracy,lumpen bourgeoisie,not yet Hegelians
Hegel was horrified by the English Reform Bill because it introduced a new political form (general vote) he could not grasp, proving he was open to the future, not an 'idiot' with absolute knowledge., illustrating desperate, pessimist Hegel,philosophy comes too late