The topic of this paper is Hegel's claim in the Philosophy of Right that, within the modern social world, human needs tend to be endlessly expanded. Unlike the role that the system of needs plays in the formation of its participants' psychological makeup and the problem of poverty and the rabble, the topic of the expansion of needs remains underdiscussed in the recent Hegel literature on the virtues and vices of civil society. My discussion of the topic aims to answer the following two sets of questions: How does it come to pass that individuals' needs are endlessly expanded in this way? And is that expansion a phenomenon to be applauded or condemned? In particular, does the endless expansion of needs aid or obstruct the realization of social members' freedom? In answer to the first question, I argue that for Hegel the endless expansion of needs results from the level of specialization and division of labor distinctive of the modern market economy, the human capacity for a certain kind of abstraction, and the desire to be recognized by other participants in the market system. In answer to the second set of questions, and despite Hegel's own apparent ambivalence, I argue on his behalf that the endless expansion of needs represents an obstacle to the realization of freedom, and is on that ground a phenomenon to be condemned, for the following two reasons: First, the endless expansion of needs increases the influence or “pressure” of desire on the members of civil society that are subject to that expansion. Second, that expansion leads to widespread frustration, understood as the inability on the part of the members of civil society to ever fully realize their ends or satisfy their desires. I end by briefly considering two Hegelian solutions to the pernicious effects of the endless expansion of needs.

中文翻译：

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奢侈与痛苦：黑格尔论需求的倍增与细化

本文的主题是黑格尔在《法哲学》中的主张，即在现代社会世界中，人类的需求趋于无限扩展。与需求系统在参与者心理构成的形成以及贫困和乌合之众问题中所扮演的角色不同，需求扩展的话题在最近关于公民社会的美德和恶习的黑格尔文献中仍然没有得到充分讨论。我的讨论旨在回答以下两组问题：个人的需求是如何无限扩大的？这种扩张是值得赞扬的现象还是值得谴责的现象？尤其是，需求的无休止扩张是有助于还是阻碍社会成员自由的实现？在回答第一个问题时，我认为，对黑格尔来说，需求的无休止扩张源于现代市场经济特有的专业化和分工水平、人类进行某种抽象的能力以及被承认的愿望。市场体系中的其他参与者。在回答第二组问题时，尽管黑格尔本人显然是矛盾的，但我代表他主张，需求的无休止扩张是实现自由的障碍，因此是一种应该受到谴责的现象，因为：原因有两个：第一，需求的无休止扩张增加了欲望对受这种扩张影响的公民社会成员的影响或“压力”。其次，这种扩张导致了广泛的挫败感，被理解为公民社会成员无法充分实现其目标或满足其愿望。最后，我简要地考虑了黑格尔对于需求无休止扩张的有害影响的两种解决方案。