Hegel'in Felsefesinde İrade ve Demokrasi İlişkisi (The relationship between will and democracy in Hegel's philosophy)

In this article, the problem of democracy will be discussed but it will be addressed in relation to Hegel’s political philosophy. It is well-known how Hegel is against democracy. But what is the problem of democracy for Hegel? Why is Hegel very much against democracy? Hegel wrote Die Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts (Elements of the Philosophy of Right) to explain his ideal state, his political view and in this book we can find his critiques for democracy. He considers democracy as the governance of masses of people and arbitrary will. Plato defines democracy emerging from oligarchy as a kind of government; for him inappeasable desire of freedom leads the destruction of democracy and the rise of tyranny. Although the challenge of Hegel to democracy does not seem as a problem as in Plato which was thought to result from excesses, he also repines the arbitrary will of people. The main aim of this article is to reveal his critiques in relation to some of his concepts such as will, arbitrary will, rational, reality, which lead us to comprehend the problem of democracy. Hegel not just criticizes the form of democracy but also he suggests a new form of government as an alternative to democracy. In this regard, the article represents his ideal form of the state to reveal the fundamental problem of democracy.