This paper tackles Hegel’s approach to poverty in his philosophy of right. I claim first that Hegel’s
account of pauperism diverges from the analysis addressed by the economic school of classic
liberalism, which authors as Smith and Kant belong to. Second, I display Hegel’s account of the
destructing effects that misery has over the self-esteem of the subject and her links with the political
community. Finally, I tackle the ethical mediation that the corporation furnishes as solution
of the dilemma that pauperism brings about for completely materializing the ethical idea, highlighting
some problems that this claim shows in Hegel’s time as in our time.
