The Ethical Implication of Community: Ferdinand Tönnies’ Synthesis of Hegel’s and Marx’s View of the Relationship between State and Society

As a classic sociological concept, “community” shows the overall social picture. From the psychological characteristics of individuals, the nature of the relationship between individuals, the structural form of society to the concept and system of politics, they form a joint organic whole, which is embodied in a common ethical life. Its emergence is inseparable from the internal contradictions of the development of modern society. Ferdinand Tönnies’ theory of community and its realistic possibility are launched in the background of Hegel and Marx’s debate on the relationship between civil society and the state. From the premise of Hegel’s philosophy of law to the empirical conditions of Marx’s social theory, based on his own background, Tönnies creatively integrated their views of society and state, presenting the overall picture of modern community and its ethical implications.