Critica della «regione pura». Übersetzung e rappresentazione in Hegel

Abstract

Übersetzung is a transversal topic in Hegelian thought. It is, for example, explicitly addressed in some passages of the lectures on aesthetics, from which, among other things, relevant problems of interpretative consistency arise. Moreover, Hegelian philosophy also contains relevant cues for those interested in the philosophical thematization of the act of translating. However, in a somewhat eccentric way with respect to these more canonical paths, the present essay has a different purpose. The term Übersetzung also appears in a pivotal place in Hegel’s last Encyclopaedia (1830³, § 5), where it is stated that «the real import of our consciousness is retained, and even for the first time put in its proper light, when translated into the form of thought and the notion of reason» (emphasis mine). It will therefore be necessary to ask in which sense this transposition from the representative to the presentational dimension constitutes a real work of ‘translation’; that is, whether Übersetzung here is a metaphor aimed at rendering a delicate operation carried out by the conscience in the act of making its contents assume a philosophical form.