Q0259

G. W. F. Hegel

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

What is rational is actual; and what is actual is rational.
Thinker G. W. F. Hegel
School German Idealism
Source Philosophy of Right, Preface
Theme Reason
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Philosophy of Right, Preface, within the tradition of German Idealism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of reason, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In G. W. F. Hegel's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: G. W. F. Hegel. (n.d.). What is rational is actual; and what is actual is rational. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0259

MLA: G. W. F. Hegel. “What is rational is actual; and what is….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0259.

Chicago: G. W. F. Hegel. “What is rational is actual; and what is….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0259.

Same thinker

More from G. W. F. Hegel

  1. The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk.
  2. The true is the whole.
  3. Self-consciousness attains its satisfaction only in another self-consciousness.
  4. The true is thus the Bacchanalian revel in which no member is not drunk.

All quotations by G. W. F. Hegel

Same theme

More on reason

  1. Let us not become haters of argument — that is a great danger to the soul.
  2. Nothing can be created from nothing by divine agency.
  3. Therefore death is nothing to us, and does not concern us at all.
  4. Faith seeking understanding.
  5. Plurality should not be posited without necessity.

Browse the reason theme