Our aim in translating Kervégan’s monumental work has been to give English readers access to Kervégan’s argument while also providing them with references for his primary sources. In cases where Kervégan has cited a source available only in German, we have based our translations on the original German as opposed to the French (although we have consistently consulted Kervégan’s French translation of the German in crafting our own English one). Where no English reference is cited, the translation is our own (whether French or German).
Below is a list of translations and abbreviations that we have employed throughout. Generally, we have tried to cite both German and English sources. We have generally avoided emending the English translations except in cases where we disagreed with the translation or where it was necessary to do so in order to make Jean-François Kervégan’s point clear. In such cases, we have noted it. In addition to these few instances, the English translations have also been frequently emended at Jean François Kervégan’s request and in consultation with him so as to make his reading of Hegel more clear (e.g., law often occurs instead of right, spirit instead of mind, and so forth). Because they are so frequent, these have not been noted. One example that should be cited immediately is that at his behest, we have consistently modified every English translation of Sittlichkeit to read as “ethicality” (instead of the often used “ethical life”); we have done this in order to make plausible and clear Kervégan’s important discussion, pursued extensively in chapter 12, of the distinction between “ethicality” (Sittlichkeit) and “ethical life” (sittliche Leben). The same is true of the translation of Recht in the English translation of the Philosophy of Right: while English translators have generally rendered it as “right,” Kervégan frequently gives it as “law,” and we have generally followed his impulse in emending the English translations without noting it. One other notable and common issue is the translation of droit privé. We have generally rendered this as “private right” (Privatrecht) instead of the perhaps more proper translation as “civil right” or “civil law” (both of which we use occasionally). We’ve done this in order to maintain a parallelism with “private right” and “objective right” or “abstract right” since that is a parallelism that Kervégan frequently invokes. The reader can also find other words and phrases in the glossary located at the end of the book. Generally, our rule has been to translate for readability while maintaining consistency of translation, which we have aimed to do with key terms (so, e.g., l’arbitre and Willkür have been rendered always as “free choice”).
However, with the very sticky and crucial Hegelian term Aufhebung we use several different terms (sublate, overcome) in keeping with the various English translations of Hegel cited. But we have always included Aufhebung in brackets and trust that the reader will understand our reasons for doing so.
GW: Gesammelte Werke. Edited by the Rheinisch-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Hamburg: Meiner, 1968–.
SW: Sämtliche Werke: Jubiläumsausgabe. Edited by H. Glockner. 12 vols. Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog, 1927–1930.
W: Werke in zwanzig Bänden. Edited by E. Moldenhauer and K. M. Michel. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1969–1971. CD-Rom, Berlin: Talpa.
Enzykl: Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften. 2nd ed. Heidelberg, 1827; 3rd ed., 1830. [W 8, 9, or 10]
Enzykl 1817: Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften. Edited by W. Bonsiepen and K. Grotsch. Heidelberg, 1817. [GW 13, 2000]
GdP: Vorlesungen über die Geschichte der Philosophie. [W 18–20]
Naturrecht: Über die wissenschaftlichen Behandlungsarten des Naturrechts. [W 2]
PhG: Phänomenologie des Geistes. [W 3]
PPD: Philosophische Propädeutik. [W 4]
RPh: Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. [W 7]
SS: System der Sittlichkeit (1802/1803). [GW 5]
WdL 11: Wissenschaft der Logik. Vol. 1, bk. 1, Das Sein. 1812. [GW 11]
WdL 12: Wissenschaft der Logik. Pt. 1, vol. 1, Die Lehre vom Sein. 1832. [W 5]
WdL 2: Wissenschaft der Logik. Vol. 1, bk. 2, Die Lehre vom Wesen. [W 6]
WdL 3: Wissenschaft der Logik. Vol. 2, Die subjektive Logik oder Lehre vom Begriff. [W 6]
The most cited volume is Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, of which we have used the Wood translation (although page numbers are also given for the Knox translation). For the Phenomenology, we have, for ease of reference, cited the Miller translation by paragraph numbers, although the Pinkard online translation has been used (which also uses the Miller paragraph numbers, albeit with a few differences; we have followed Pinkard). For the Science of Logic, we have cited the most recent translation by Di Giovanni. The Encyclopedia translation we have cited is the Harris and the Wallace, while for the 1817 Encyclopedia, we have cited the translation by Steven Taubeneck in the Continuum edition. Finally, although the English translation of the natural law essay (put out by University of Pennsylvania press in 1975) works off of a different German edition than cited here, we have included references to it for easy access to an English source.
Elements of the Philosophy of Right. Translated by H. B. Nisbet. Edited by Allen W. Wood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. [Elements]
The Encyclopedia Logic. Translated by T. F. Geraets, W. A. Suchting, and H. S. Harris. Indianoplis: Hackett, 1991. [Encyclopedia §§ 1–244]
Encyclopedia of the Philosophical Sciences in Outline, and Critical Writings. Translated by Steven A. Taubeneck. London: Continuum, 1990. [Encyclopedia 1817]
Hegel’s Philosophy of Mind. Translated by William Wallace. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. [Encyclopedia §§ 377–577]
Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature. Edited and translated by M. J. Petry. London: Allen and Unwin, 1970. [Encyclopedia §§ 245–376]
Hegel’s Political Writings. Translated by T. M. Knox. Oxford: Clarendon, 1964.
Natural Law: The Scientific Ways of Treating Natural Law, Its Place in Moral Philosophy, and Its Relation to the Positive Sciences of Law. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1975. [Natural Law]
Outlines of the Philosophy of Right. Translated by T. M. Knox. Revised, edited, and introduced by Stephen Houlgate. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Outlines]
Phenomenology of Spirit. Translated by A. V. Miller. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977. [Phenomenology]
Science of Logic. Translated by George Di Giovanni. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Fichte, Werke: Fichte, Johann Gottlieb. Fichtes Werke. Edited by I. H. Fichte. Berlin, De Gruyter, 1971. Reedited on CD-Rom, Berlin, 2002.
Kant, Ak.: Kant, Immanuel. Gesammelte Schriften (Akademie-Ausgabe). Charlottesville, VA: Intelex, 1999. [Book and CD-Rom]
Kant, Frieden: Zum ewigen Frieden. [Ak. 8]
Kant, Gemeinspruch: Über den Gemeinspruch: das mag in der Theorie richtig sein, taugt aber nicht für die Praxis. [Ak. 8]
Kant, KpV: Kritik der praktischen Vernunft. [Ak. 5]
Kant, KrV: Kritik der reinen Vernunft [Ak. 3]
Kant, KU: Kritik der Urteilskraft. [Ak. 20]
Kant, MdS: Metaphysik der Sitten. [Ak. 6]
Kant, Rechtslehre: MdS, pt. 1, Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Rechtslehre. [Ak. 6]
Kant, Sittenlehre: MdS, pt. 2, Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Sittenlehre. [Ak. 6]
For Kant, we have employed the Cambridge translations exclusively.
Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Paul Guyer and Allen W. Wood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. [1C]
———. Critique of the Power of Judgment. Translated by Paul Guyer and Eric Matthews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. [3C]
———. Practical Philosophy. Translated by Mary J. Gregor. Edited by Mary J. Gregor Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. [2C]