Section 259
Original German
259 Die Idee des Staats hat: a) unmittelbare Wirklichkeit und ist der individuelle Staat als sich auf sich beziehender Organismus Verfassung oder inneres Staatsrecht; b) geht sie in das Verhältniß des einzelnen Staates zu andern Staaten über, — äußeres Staatsrecht; c) ist sie die allgemeine Idee als Gattung und absolute Macht gegen die individuellen Staaten, der Geist, der sich im Prozesse der Weltgeschichte seine Wirklichkeit giebt.
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.
259 The Idea of the state has: (a) immediate actuality, and is the individual state as an organism relating itself to itself—constitution, or internal public law; (b) it passes over into the relation of the single state to other states—external public law; (c) it is the universal Idea as a genus and as absolute power over the individual states, the spirit that gives itself its actuality in the process of world history.
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.
259 The idea of the state has three stages. a) It has immediate actuality. Here it is the individual state, an organism that relates to itself. This is the constitution, or internal constitutional law. b) It passes over into the relation of the single state to other states. This is external constitutional law. c) It is the universal idea, as the kind to which individual states belong and as the absolute power over them. This is spirit, which gives itself its actuality in the process of world history.
About this section
Section 259 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 261 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
Open the work page for the full contents, every edition, and the download links, or go back to Explore to browse other complete works in the European tradition. The reader keeps your place when you are signed in and lets you compare the original with each translation, one edition at a time.