Section 322
Original German
322 Die Individualität, als ausschließendes Für-sich-seyn erscheint als Verhältniß zu andern Staaten, deren jeder selbstständig gegen die andern ist. Indem in dieser Selbstständigkeit das Für-sich-seyn des wirklichen Geistes sein Daseyn hat, ist sie die erste Freyheit und die höchste Ehre eines Volkes.
Diejenigen, welche von Wünschen einer Gesammtheit, die einen mehr oder weniger selbstständigen Staat ausmacht und ein eigenes Centrum hat, sprechen, — von Wünschen, diesen Mittelpunkt und seine Selbstständigkeit zu verlieren, um mit einem Anderen ein Ganzes auszumachen, wissen wenig von der Natur einer Gesammtheit und dem Selbstgefühl, das ein Volk in seiner Unabhängigkeit hat. — Die erste Gewalt, in welcher Staaten geschichtlich auftreten, ist daher diese Selbstständigkeit überhaupt, wenn sie auch ganz abstract ist, und keine weitere innere Entwickelung hat; es gehört deswegen zu dieser ursprünglichen Erscheinung, daß ein Individuum an ihrer Spitze steht, Patriarch, Stammeshaupt u. s. f.
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.
322 Individuality, as exclusive being-for-itself, appears as a relation to other states, each of which is independent of the others. Since in this independence the being-for-itself of the actual spirit has its existence, it is the first freedom and the highest honor of a people.
Those who speak of wishes on the part of a collective body that constitutes a more or less independent state and has a center of its own—wishes to lose this center and its independence in order to form one whole with another—know little of the nature of a collective body and of the self-feeling which a people has in its independence. — The first power in which states appear historically is therefore this independence in general, even if it is quite abstract and has no further inner development; it therefore belongs to this original appearance that an individual stands at its head, a patriarch, a tribal chief and so on.
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.
322 Individuality, as exclusive being-for-itself, appears as a relation to other states, each of which is independent of the others. Since the being-for-itself of actual spirit has its existence in this independence, independence is the first freedom and the highest honor of a people.
Some people speak of wishes in a whole body of people that makes up a more or less independent state and has a center of its own. They speak of wishes to lose this center and its independence, in order to form one whole with another state. Such people know little about the nature of a whole body of people and about the self-respect a people has in its independence. The first power in which states appear in history is therefore this independence as such, even if it is quite abstract and has no further inner development. For that reason it belongs to this original appearance that an individual stands at its head, a patriarch, a tribal chief and so on.
About this section
Section 322 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 324 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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