The paper examines how, during the so-called Goethezeit, German classical phi- losophy developed the relation between a metaphysical idea of freedom, human natural rights and political philosophy, reacting to the different phases of the French Revolution. Viewing these philosophical reflections on concrete institutional social relationships from the standpoint of the public and private use of reason reveals significant changes which, between Kant and Hegel, transformed the notions of ethics, freedom and idea; and likewise approaches to the will’s determining factors, in view of the post-Kantian anthropological, aesthetics and educational revolution, with an unexpected impact on the late Kant.
