Hegel's View on Morality

Hegel says, “that a good person often acts on impulse rather than from reason, and that someone who acts out on the basis of ‘duty’, may well, even while doing right and exhibiting Kantian ‘moral worth’, prove to be a wretched character” (Continental Philosophy since 1750, pg 70).  This view on the moral integrity of a person is obviously more narrowly driven than any other philosopher we have studied.  This quote seems to mean that a good person can seem just as morally correct as someone who does good because of duty, even if there heart is not devoted to the action.  Hegel’s view on ethics is concentrated on the idea that our moral integrity as individuals is based more on our social community, than some universal set of rules. 

He says, “the locus of morals not in the universal and necessary laws of reason, but in the particular rules and dictates of the family” (pg.70).  The formulation of morals comes from the influences that surround a particular persons upbringing.  Every person has an idealized set of morals based on his/her background.  I think that this view of morals is a much more practical approach to this topic.  However, if we only learn our ethical values from those in our community then where did the first set of values come into play?  It seems that Hegel’s philosophy must be true, as long as there does exist a sense of moral values beyond human understanding.   Hegel makes another very valid point on the last page of the reading.  He states, “ For the individual who is caught in the crisis there may well be no ‘happy ending,” (pg.71).  Hegel seems to be realizing or explaining the old question of why do bad things happen to good people.  He says that sometimes, our moral right may not always be what leads us to a good end.  In other words, it is not the end we need to be concerned about, rather the choices we made to get there.          

  I enjoyed this argument on Hegel’s philosophy of morality.  In the article it says that this may be a narrow-minded view of such a large element of life, but I think that it really shows how morality is not the happy ending.  Sometimes I think we get caught up in the idea that all good deeds are our way to a happy ending, but the truth is that being moral is not what you do to be successful.  It is a law created by man, or some higher being, that we must abide by in order to live a civil life in a community.  This is clearly seen in Hegel’s comments about the social influence of morality.