Section 264
Original German
264 Die Individuen der Menge, da sie selbst geistige Naturen und damit das gedoppelte Moment, nämlich das Extrem der für sich wissenden und wollenden Einzelnheit und das Extrem der das Substantielle wissenden und wollenden Allgemeinheit in sich enthalten, und daher zu dem Rechte dieser beyden Seiten nur gelangen, insofern sie sowohl als Privat- wie als substantielle Personen wirklich sind; — erreichen in jenen Sphären theils unmittelbar das Erstere, theils das Andere so, daß sie in den Institutionen, als dem an sich seyenden Allgemeinen ihrer besondern Interessen ihr wesentliches Selbstbewußtseyn haben, theils daß sie ihnen ein auf einen allgemeinen Zweck gerichtetes Geschäft und Thätigkeit in der Corporation gewähren.
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.
264 The individuals of the multitude, since they are themselves spiritual natures and therefore contain within themselves the doubled moment, namely the extreme of individuality knowing and willing for itself and the extreme of universality knowing and willing the substantial, and therefore attain to the right of both these sides only insofar as they are actual both as private persons and as substantial persons—reach in those spheres, partly immediately the former and partly the latter. They do so in that they have their essential self-consciousness in the institutions, as the universal of their particular interests that is in itself, and in that the institutions afford them, in the corporation, a business and activity directed to a universal end.
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.
264 The individuals of the mass are themselves spiritual natures. So they contain in themselves a double moment. One is the extreme of individuality that knows and wills for itself. The other is the extreme of universality that knows and wills the substantial. They therefore come to the right of both sides only to the extent that they are actual both as private persons and as substantial persons. In those spheres they reach the first partly directly, and the second in this way: partly, in the institutions, as the universal of their particular interests that exists in itself, they have their essential self-consciousness. And partly, the institutions give them, in the corporation, a task and an activity directed to a universal aim.
About this section
Section 264 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 266 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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