Section 209
Original German
B. Die Rechtspflege.
209 Das Relative der Wechselbeziehung der Bedürfnisse und der Arbeit für sie, hat zunächst seine Reflexion in sich, überhaupt in der unendlichen Persönlichkeit, dem (abstracten) Rechte. Es ist aber diese Sphäre des Relativen, als Bildung, selbst, welche dem Rechte das Daseyn giebt, als allgemein anerkanntes, gewußtes und gewolltes zu seyn, und vermittelt durch dieß Gewußt- und Gewolltseyn Gelten und objective Wirklichkeit zu haben.
Es gehört der Bildung, dem Denken als Bewußtseyn des Einzelnen in Form der Allgemeinheit, daß Ich als allgemeine Person aufgefaßt werde, worin Alle identisch sind. Der Mensch gilt so, weil er Mensch ist, nicht weil er Jude, Katholik, Protestant, Deutscher, Italiener u. s. f. ist, — dieß Bewußtseyn, dem der Gedanke gilt, ist von unendlicher Wichtigkeit, — nur dann mangelhaft, wenn es etwa als Kosmopolitismus sich dazu fixirt, dem concreten Staatsleben gegenüber zu stehen.
Musean translation
Machine-assisted Musean translation made directly from Hegel's German in the Berlin Nicolai first edition, dated 1821. Complete preface, introduction and sections 1–360, including the author's remarks and notes; no later Gans additions.
B. The Administration of Justice
209 The relative character of the interrelation of needs and of labor for them has its reflection into itself first of all in infinite personality, that is, in general in the (abstract) right. But it is this sphere of the relative itself, as cultivation, that gives right existence—gives it to be universally recognized, known, and willed—and, mediated by this being known and willed, to have validity and objective actuality.
It belongs to cultivation, to thinking as the consciousness of the individual in the form of universality, that I be grasped as a universal person, in which all are identical. The human being thus counts as such because he is a human being, not because he is a Jew, a Catholic, a Protestant, a German, an Italian, and so forth—this consciousness, for which the thought counts, is of infinite importance—deficient only when it fixes itself as cosmopolitanism, so as to stand opposed to concrete state life.
Plain English translation
Independent machine-assisted Plain English translation made directly from the German first-edition source, not from the Musean edition or an existing English translation. Complete preface, introduction and sections 1–360 with the author's remarks and notes.
B. The Administration of Justice
209 The relative character of the interaction of needs and the work done for them initially has its reflection into itself in infinite personality generally, in abstract right. But it is this sphere of the relative itself, as education and cultivation, that gives right its existence: being universally recognized, known, and willed. Through being known and willed in this way, right has binding force and objective actual reality.
It belongs to education and cultivation—to thinking as the individual's consciousness in the form of universality—that I am understood as a universal person, in which everyone is identical. A human being counts as such because he is a human being, not because he is a Jew, Catholic, Protestant, German, Italian, and so on. This consciousness, in which thought counts, is infinitely important. It is defective only when it fixes itself, perhaps as cosmopolitanism, in opposition to the concrete life of the state.
About this section
Section 209 is part of Elements of the Philosophy of Right by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. This page sets the German original beside 2 direct-source translations, so any line can be checked against the source. It is section 211 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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