Section 68
Original German
68 Das Eigenthümliche an der geistigen Production kann durch die Art und Weise der Aeußerung unmittelbar in solche Aeußerlichkeit einer Sache umschlagen, die nun eben so von andern producirt werden kann; so daß mit deren Erwerb der nunmehrige Eigenthümer, außerdem daß er damit sich die mitgetheilten Gedanken oder die technische Erfindung zu eigen machen kann, welche Möglichkeit zum Theil (bei schriftstellerischen Werken) die einzige Bestimmung und den Werth des Erwerbs ausmacht, zugleich in den Besitz der allgemeinen Art und Weise, sich so zu äußern und solche Sachen vielfältig hervorzubringen, kommt.
Bey Kunstwerken ist die den Gedanken in einem äußerlichen Material verbildlichende Form als Ding so sehr das Eigenthümliche des producirenden Individuums, daß ein Nachmachen derselben wesentlich das Product der eigenen geistigen und technischen Geschicklichkeit ist. Bey einem schriftstellerischen Werke ist die Form, wodurch es eine äußerliche Sache ist, so wie bey der Erfindung einer technischen Vorrichtung, mechanischer Art, — dort, weil der Gedanke nur in einer Reihe vereinzelter abstracter Zeichen, nicht in concreter Bildnerey dargestellt wird, hier, weil er überhaupt einen mechanischen Inhalt hat, — und die Art und Weise, solche Sachen als Sachen zu produciren, gehört unter die gewöhnlichen Fertigkeiten. — Zwischen den Extremen des Kunstwerks und der handwerksmäßigen Production giebt es übrigens Uebergänge, die bald mehr, bald weniger von dem einen oder dem andern an sich haben.
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.
68 Through the manner of its expression, what is distinctive in an intellectual production can pass immediately into the externality of a thing that can now be produced by others as well. In acquiring it, the new owner, besides being able to make his own the thoughts communicated in it or the technical invention—a possibility that in some cases, as with literary works, constitutes the sole purpose and value of the acquisition—also comes into possession of the universal manner of expressing himself in this way and producing many such things.
In works of art, the form that embodies thought in an external material is, as a thing, so much the distinctive creation of the producing individual that imitating it is essentially a product of the imitator's own intellectual and technical skill. In a literary work, the form through which it is an external thing, as also in the invention of a technical device, is mechanical in kind: in the former case, because thought is presented only in a series of isolated abstract signs, not in concrete plastic form; in the latter, because it has a mechanical content in general. And the manner of producing such things as things belongs among ordinary skills.—Between the extremes of the work of art and handicraft production there are, moreover, transitions that partake, to a greater or lesser degree, of one or the other.
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.
68 What is distinctive about intellectual production can, through the way it is expressed, turn directly into the external character of a thing that others can now also produce. Someone who acquires it can make the communicated thoughts or technical invention their own. Sometimes, as with literary works, this possibility is the sole purpose and value of acquiring it. But the new owner also comes into possession of the general way of expressing oneself in this way and producing many such things.
In works of art, the form that embodies the thought in an external material, as a thing, is so much the individual producer's own that imitating it is essentially a product of the imitator's own intellectual and technical skill. With a literary work, the form that makes it an external thing is mechanical, as it is with the invention of a technical device. In the former, this is because the thought is represented only in a series of separate, abstract signs, not in concrete sculptural form; in the latter, because its content is mechanical in general. The way of producing such things as things belongs to ordinary skills.—Between the extremes of the work of art and craft production, however, there are transitional forms that have more or less of one or the other in them.
About this section
Section 68 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 70 of 362 in the work, which is kept in the European tradition.
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