社會正義、公民意識與貧富差距：黑格爾視角的觀察

Social Justice, Civil Consciousness and Poverty: From the Perspective of Hegel

本文的目的在於從德國政治思想家黑格爾的角度，探討社會正義概念的發展及其與公民意識之間的關係。社會正義概念的起源，可以追溯至古希臘時代哲學家對於政治生活共善追尋的理想。然而在進入現代之後，取而代之的正義概念，則是個人權利的保障。黑格爾指出，以自由經濟體系為基礎的現代國家，基於無法避免的貧窮問題，對於個人權利的保障有其難以克服的困境。欲在現代國家保障個人權利並實現社會正義，就必須建立一套以尊重個人自由為前提的社會正義價值共識，也就是黑格爾意義下的公民意識。此一公民意識並非某種無私的道德意識，而是私利與公益的對立能夠消解的信念與能力。在此公民意識下，國家方具有介入經濟體系運作的立足點，以化解在自由經濟體系下無法避免的貧富差距問題。

In this research paper, I discuss the conceptual development of social justiceand its relation to civil consciousness from the perspective of G.W.HHegel. The conceptual origin of social justice can be found in ancient philosophy,in which the philosophers try to argue the common good of the politicallife in a polis. However in the modern state, the concept of social justice is thesecurity of individual rights. According to Hegel, because of the inevitableproblem of poverty in the modern economic system, the protection of individualrights is also limited. In order to secure individual rights and achieve socialjustice, the modern state must construct a civil consciousness, which includesnot only the formal protection of rights, but also the concrete value of socialjustice. Only under this condition is the state in a position to intervene in theeconomic system, and the common good in ancient political thought can bechanged into its modern form.