Samuel Hollander, Hegel on ethics, the state, and public policy: Comparisons with Immanuel Kant and utilitarianism (New York: Routledge, 2025).

This article critically examines Samuel Hollander’s book *Hegel on Ethics, the State, and Public Policy*, which applies Hollander’s expertise in the history of economic thought to G.W.F. Hegel’s philosophy of Right. Hollander offers comparative analyses linking Hegel’s ethics and politics to classical economists and utilitarians like Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, arguing that Hegel’s political views align with liberalism and can be understood independently of his metaphysical system. However, the article contends that Hollander’s approach neglects Hegel’s transcendental idealism and key concepts such as the objective Will and the Idea of the state, leading to significant exegetical errors and misinterpretations of Hegel’s ethics, political philosophy, and views on war, colonialism, and international relations. While acknowledging Hollander’s valuable economic comparisons, the article concludes that his deflationary reading limits the philosophical reliability and depth of his interpretation of Hegel. [Extracted from the article]