Quotation
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“What is rational is actual, and what is actual is rational.”
G. W. F. Hegel · German idealism · Modern · 1820
What does it mean?
What is rational, Hegel says, is actual, and what is actual is rational. 'Actual' translates wirklich, a technical term for what has a rational structure, not for whatever happens to be going on. A whim or a failing office can exist without being actual in his sense. Critics from Marx on answer that the distinction is too convenient: it lets a conservative hear that the status quo is justified while the disciple insists the words never said that. The fight is about whether the technical sense survives contact with ordinary German.
Did G. W. F. Hegel really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. The famous double sentence of the preface (Was vernünftig ist, das ist wirklich; und was wirklich ist, das ist vernünftig). 'Actual' (wirklich) is a technical term. It does not mean 'whatever exists is fine'.
Where it comes from
Elements of the Philosophy of Right, preface
Approximate date: 1820.
How to use it
A Bristol councillor calls a collapsing bus franchise rational because it is the one the city already has. Hegel's sentence does not license that slide. Ask whether the practice is actual in his demanding sense, or merely happening and therefore, on his own distinction, not yet the thing the preface praises.
A mindset reading
Technical words smuggled into ordinary English do quiet political work. 'Actual' is the one to slow down on. If you cannot say what it excludes, you do not yet have his sentence.
Understand the philosophy
The Philosophy of Right orders abstract right, morality, and ethical life: family, civil society, state. The preface's double sentence is both the scandal and the key. Reading the book means watching which institutions he thinks have earned the name actual.
- knowledge
- society
- change
FAQ
What does it mean?
What is rational, Hegel says, is actual, and what is actual is rational. 'Actual' translates wirklich, a technical term for what has a rational structure, not for whatever happens to be going on. A whim or a failing office can exist without being actual in his sense. Critics from Marx on answer that the distinction is too convenient: it lets a conservative hear that the status quo is justified while the disciple insists the words never said that. The fight is about whether the technical sense survives contact with ordinary German.
Did G. W. F. Hegel really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. The famous double sentence of the preface (Was vernünftig ist, das ist wirklich; und was wirklich ist, das ist vernünftig). 'Actual' (wirklich) is a technical term. It does not mean 'whatever exists is fine'.
Which work is it in?
Elements of the Philosophy of Right, preface Approximate date: 1820.