Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. Martin Heidegger
in the process of being absolved/detached, in the process of the absolute, becoming absolute.
aufzeigen. Throughout this translation, we have translated aufzeigen as “showing up”—and not, as is commonly done, as “pointing out.” It seems to us that the term “showing up” better accounts for the process of appearing, manifesting, shining—which is of utmost concern for Hegel and for Heidegger’s reading of Hegel.
dieses and diesig. A common word in German, dieses is used in Hegel’s text to indicate that he wants to think something which is not yet thought in traditional ways of thinking about a thing. When Hegel says “dieses,” he wants to think a thing as it is on its way to becoming an object for consciousness. When Heidegger uses the words “diesig” or “das Diesige,” he is reconsidering this same process and finds that to be “dieses” a thing must have the character of a dieses, must be diesig. Only thus can a thing be on its way to becoming an object for consciousness. Thus, we have translated diesig as “having the character of a this.” (Similar explanations can be offered in regard to other terms, such as hiesig and ichlich.)
einzeln. English has two possibilities: particular or individual. The nuance of each of these words in English is perhaps more a matter of style than of anything else. We have translated einzeln consistently as “particular,” even though we are aware that a case can be made for the appropriateness of the word individual in some instances.
gleichgültig. It is our judgment that Hegel uses this word in two senses: as “indifferent” and as “with equal weight or force.” In each instance we have chosen one or the other, trying to be mindful of this difference.
meinen, das Meinen, and das Meine. First, meinen and das Meinen can sometimes be translated into English as “meaning,” but more often as “intending.” We have used both English words. Second, the connection that these words have in their German rootedness is impossible to maintain in English translation. The reader simply needs to remember that the words are rooted together in German.
die Mitte. This is a crucial technical term for Hegel. It presented us with a special difficulty, in that the most readable English translation—“middle term”—carries with it a possibly misleading nuance. We might have chosen “middle,” “midpoint,” or “mid-point.” With great hesitation we have sometimes rendered die Mitte as “middle term,” aware of the risk that the language will tend to reduce the tension and movement in Hegel’s thought of “die Mitte” to a logical nexus—thereby covering over the experiential character of the phenomenology of spirit that Hegel’s work undertakes and that Heidegger’s reading of Hegel’s work invites us the reader to participate in.
rein. We hope that translating rein as “sheer” rather than “pure” will allow us to get closer to what Hegel has in mind. It seems to us that the English word sheer better reflects the absolute character of the process which Hegel has in mind.
wahrnehmen and die Wahrnehmung. These words are usually translated as “perceiving” and “perception” respectively. We have also done that. But in some crucial places we have used the more literal phrase “taking for true,” in order to keep visible the root meaning of wahr-nehmen. This meaning is implied in the English word perception, but it is not explicit. Wahr-nehmen as “taking-for-true” is of central philosophical concern for Hegel as well as for Heidegger reading Hegel.
wissen. This term in Hegel refers at times to the process of knowing and at times to knowledge itself. Thus, we have translated wissen sometimes as “knowing” and sometimes as “knowledge.” Again, this occasionally became a matter of interpretation, something that the German edition—and perhaps Heidegger himself—did not need to make so explicitly. (Note: We have translated the German word die Erkenntnis as “cognition,” precisely to reserve the English words knowing and knowledge for wissen.)
zugrundegehen. We found that Heidegger’s word zugrundegehen is as diverse as Hegel’s aufheben. Thus, we have translated it variously as “running aground,” “going under,” and “being annihilated.”
Technical Aspects of the Text in Translation. All additions to the German text by the translators are within square brackets [ ], including information that was added in the footnotes. Significant and problematical German words that we chose to carry along in the body of the text are also in square brackets. The symbols { } are used to distinguish Heidegger’s additions or comments within quotations.
Footnotes from the German edition are at the bottom of the page and are numbered consecutively from the beginning of each major section—following the German text. Translators’ footnotes are at the bottom of the page, in brackets, and are designated by asterisks. Footnotes designated by asterisks without brackets contain information that appears in the text itself in the German edition. The numbers in the running heads refer to the pagination of the German edition.
References to Hegel Texts. In an attempt to clarify which texts by Hegel (and which editions) are being referred to in Heidegger’s text and to make proper and adequate reference to English translations of these Hegel texts, we have proceeded in the following way in all footnote references:
1. We have reproduced the references that appear in the German edition as they appear there. When there is simply a Roman numeral and page number, it refers to the volumes of Hegel’s Gesamtausgabe of 1832ff., which Heidegger refers to most of the time. The later and more accessible Jubiläumsausgabe reproduces in its margins the volume and page number of the 1832 edition.
2. References that are added in this translation and identified as “GW” refer to the Gesammelte Werke of Hegel published by the Hegel-Archiv through Felix Meiner Verlag.
3. For Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit, abbreviations in the footnote references mean as follows:
| II | Gesamtausgabe or Jubiläumsausgabe |
| GW IX | Phänomenobgie des Geistes, hrsg. Wolfgang Bonsieger und Reinhard Heede, Gesammelte Werke, Band 9 (Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1980) |
| Hoff. | Phänomenologie des Geistes, hrsg. Johannes Hoffmeister, Philosophische Bibliothek, Band 114 (Hamburg: Felix Meiner Verlag, 1952) |
| E.T. | Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. Α. V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977) |
4. Besides the Phenomenology of Spirit, the English translations of two other Hegel texts are referred to in the footnotes simply as “E.T.” These are:
The Difference between the Fichtean and Schellingian Systems of Philosophy, trans. J. P. Surber (Atascadero, Calif.: Ridgeview Publishing, 1978) (Jubiläumsausgabe I; GW IV)
Hegel’s Science of Logic, trans. A. Miller (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1976) (Jubiläumsausgabe III; GW XI–XII and XXI–XXII)
5. All other references to English translations appear in brackets in the respective footnotes.
This translation owes an immeasurable amount to the generous help that it has received from Robert Bernasconi, both in terms of the preparation of references to the various editions of Hegel’s works and in terms of a careful and concern-filled reading of our text. We express our deepest gratitude to him, even as we assume full and final responsibility for this work of translation. We also thank John Sallis for his careful reading of the text of this translation.
We are grateful to the National Endowment for the Humanities for partial support of this project. Our gratitude is also due to the Faculty Research and Development Committee of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of DePaul University, the Research Council of DePaul University, the University Research Committee of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and the College of Arts, Letters and Sciences of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Parvis Emad
Kenneth Maly
Notes