This modern translation contains an afterword explaining this work's place in Hegel's larger philosophic system, the relevant historical background, and a timeline of his life and works. The modern language of the translation and scholarly apparatus are designed to orient the modern reader to Hegel's world in his time, and highlight the continued influence of Hegel in our day. Hegel, a generally inaccessible philosopher due to the sheer size and intricacy of his thought, is explained through the interpretation of Tolstoy, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Heidegger in this Afterword to make his historically important body of work accessible to the armchair philosopher.

Published in the Critical Journal of Philosophy, the work emerged from his engagement with both classical natural law theory and contemporary approaches to political philosophy, particularly Kant's and Fichte's. The text demonstrates Hegel's growing critique of abstract moral and political theory while developing his own conception of ethical life (Sittlichkeit) that would become central to his mature political philosophy.

The essay launches a sustained critique of both empirical and formal approaches to natural law. Hegel argues that empirical approaches merely collect and systematize existing legal practices without grasping their rational necessity, while formal approaches (like Kant's) derive abstract principles that fail to connect meaningfully with concrete social and political life. Both approaches, he contends, fail to comprehend the organic unity of ethical life that characterizes genuine political community. Here we see Hegel developing his characteristic criticism of abstract universality while working toward a more concrete understanding of social and political relationships. Hegel discusses how natural law, like other sciences, has often been viewed through a mechanistic lens. Physics, as an example, is seen as a philosophical science, but the philosophical aspects of it were historically separated into metaphysics, while empirical aspects were emphasized. He argues that philosophical sciences should maintain a conscious connection with philosophy and be rooted in it. Each part of philosophy can become an independent science with inner necessity, grounded in the Absolute. However, the idea itself remains free and reflects itself in individual sciences without losing its purity.

This work contains early versions of several key Hegelian concepts. His notion of ethical life as the unity of universal and particular aspects of social existence emerges clearly, as does his understanding of the state as an organic totality rather than a mere mechanism for protecting individual rights. The text also reveals Hegel's deep engagement with ancient Greek political thought, particularly his admiration for the Greek polis as an example of integrated ethical life - though he recognizes that modern political life requires more complex forms of mediation. The essay thus stands as a crucial bridge between his early theological-political writings and his mature political philosophy as expressed in the Philosophy of Right.