Acta Universitatis Danubius. Juridica, Vol 3, No 1 (2007)

Abstract

The present article is created as a response to criticisms of K.R. Popper towards the philosophy of the Hegelian law, considered by him as an apology of state and, implicitly, a source of inspiration for totalitarian ideologies of 20^th century. The arguments in this paper are that the Hegel’s theorized state was a state that should satisfy the concept of social institution fully rational, serving the community and the general interest, and not as the equivalent of the Prussian monarchic state of it’s time, as Popper is trying to persuade us. Therefore, the legal philosophy of Hegel is meant to be a genuine plea for a democratic state, whose legitimacy needed to be, firstly, a legitimacy of a moral order, which meant that at the base of its activity, had to be the supreme moral values.