Section 343
Original German
343 Die Geschichte des Geistes ist seine That, denn er ist nur, was er thut, und seine That ist, sich und zwar hier als Geist sich zum Gegenstande seines Bewußtseyns zu machen, sich für sich selbst auslegend zu erfassen. Diß Erfassen ist sein Seyn und Princip, und die Vollendung eines Erfassens ist zugleich seine Entäußerung und sein Uebergang. Der, formell ausgedrückt, von neuem diß Erfassen erfassende, und was dasselbe ist, aus der Entäußerung in sich gehende Geist, ist der Geist der höhern Stufe gegen sich, sich wie er in jenem erstern Erfassen stand.
Die Frage über die Perfectibilität und Erziehung des Menschengeschlechts fällt hieher. Diejenigen, welche diese Perfectibilität behauptet haben, haben etwas von der Natur des Geistes geahndet, seiner Natur, Γνῶθι σεαυτόν zum Gesetze seines Seyns zu haben, und indem er das erfaßt, was er ist, eine höhere Gestalt als diese, die sein Seyn ausmachte, zu seyn. Aber denen, welche diesen Gedanken verwerfen, ist der Geist ein leeres Wort geblieben, so wie die Geschichte ein oberflächliches Spiel zufälliger sogenannter nur menschlicher Bestrebungen und Leidenschaften. Wenn sie dabey auch in den Ausdrücken von Vorsehung und Plan der Vorsehung den Glauben eines höheren Waltens aussprechen, so bleiben diß unerfüllte Vorstellungen, indem sie auch ausdrücklich den Plan der Vorsehung für ein ihnen Unerkennbares und Unbegreifliches ausgeben.
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.
343 The history of spirit is its deed, for it is only what it does, and its deed is to make itself, and here indeed as spirit, the object of its consciousness, to grasp itself by interpreting itself for itself. This grasping is its being and its principle, and the completion of a grasping is at the same time its externalization and its transition. Spirit that, expressed formally, grasps this grasping anew, and, which is the same, goes into itself out of its externalization, is spirit of the higher stage in relation to itself as it stood in that first grasping.
The question of the perfectibility and education of the human race belongs here. Those who have asserted this perfectibility have had an intimation of something of the nature of spirit, of its nature to have Γνῶθι σεαυτόν ("Know yourself") as the law of its being, and, in grasping what it is, to be a higher shape than the one that constituted its being. But for those who reject this thought, spirit has remained an empty word, just as history has remained a superficial play of contingent, so-called merely human strivings and passions. If in doing so they also express, in the terms providence and plan of providence, a belief in a higher governance, these remain unfulfilled ideas, since they expressly declare the plan of providence to be something unknowable and incomprehensible to them.
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.
343 The history of spirit is its own deed. Spirit is only what it does, and its deed is to make itself, here as spirit, the object of its own consciousness, and to grasp itself by interpreting itself to itself. This grasping is its being and its principle. When a grasping is completed, that is at once spirit's giving itself up and its passing on. Put in formal terms, spirit then grasps this grasping anew. This is the same as going into itself out of its self-surrender. Such a spirit is spirit at a higher stage compared with itself, as it stood in that first grasping.
The question of the perfectibility and the education of the human race belongs here. Those who have asserted this perfectibility have had some sense of the nature of spirit. Its nature is to have "Know yourself" (Γνῶθι σεαυτόν) as the law of its being. By grasping what it is, it becomes a higher form than the one that made up its former being. But for those who reject this thought, spirit has remained an empty word. For them history is a shallow play of accidental strivings and passions, so-called merely human ones. They may express a belief in a higher governing power, using the words providence and the plan of providence. But these remain unfulfilled notions, since they also expressly declare that the plan of providence is something unknowable and incomprehensible to them.
About this section
Section 343 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 345 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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