Doesn Hegels dictum, “Reality is Rational,” oblige us to accept War, Atrocity and Injustice?
No. Hegel’s dictum actually reads: “What is rational is actual, what is actual is rational”. It is important to notice the succession of moments in this famous sentence: first comes “the rational is actual”, then comes “the actual is rational”. A correct interpretation of the dictum relies on the correct understanding of the word “actual”. As Hegel himself explained, “actuality” does not correspond to mere existence. “Actual” is what has to happen, because of the implications already contained in itself. In other terms – to take an example – in a situation where an underprivileged class is blatantly exploited by a privileged one, there are already the germs of revolt and violent change. That revolt is then “actual”. The contingent and terrible consequences of exploitation and revolt (such as death, injustice, revenge) accompany the realisation of the actual, but are not “actual” themselves. They are awful “accidents”. According to Hegel, what is “rational”, i.e. what corresponds to the
