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G. W. F. Hegel, Spirit: Chapter Six of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, translated by The Hegel Translation Group, edited, with Introduction, Notes and Commentary by Daniel Shannon (Indianapolis, Indiana: Hackett, 2001), pp. xx + 236. ISBN 0-87220-569-x.

When I initially heard of the new annotated translation of Chapter Six of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand, I had written an article criticising the available English translations of the Phenomenology, especially the A. V. Miller translation published by Oxford University Press in 1977 and, with a view to extending the options for Anglophone readers, had published my own translation of some selections from this work. So I welcomed the publication of a new alternative to the Miller translation. I also appreciated the renewed attention being given to the 'second half of the Phenomenology, in which Hegel turns from an examination of the 'forms of consciousness' to a phenomenological analysis of the 'forms of a world'. In my opinion, these latter sections, often overlooked by commentators who tend to focus on initial sections concerning sense-certainty, the Master-Slave dialectic, the Unhappy Consciousness, etc., include some of Hegel's best insights. For example, in Chapter Six we encounter Hegel's brilliant analysis of natural law and human law, through the figure of Antigone; the dialectic of wealth versus power and the oscillating collusions of wealth and power in the section on 'Culture'; an 1807 quasi-contemporary critique of the emergence of the French Enlightenment, and its victories over 'Faith' in European culture; an incisive analysis of the interconnection of utilitarianism with Enlightenment values; the bizarre dovetailing of revolution and totalitarianism in the chapter on 'Absolute liberty'; the shock of German ethicists at the Kantian moral system, with its dichotomisation of the rational and the sensible; and the uniquely German Fichtean synthesis of morality and sensibility in conscience ('Geivissen*). These are issues much less discussed in current scholarship than the highlights to be found in the earlier chapters. On the other hand, I had misgivings about both the new translation and the emphasis on Chapter Six. Can a 'translation group' produce the clear and accurate rendition that we would hope for? And in good English? Hegel once said that his intention was to make philosophy speak good German; is it possible for a translation group to pool their efforts and produce a good English translation? The fifty-four scholars who produced the King James Version of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew manuscripts in 1611 divided themselves into six groups, and with constant reworking and mutual criticism produced a version noted for its elegant English as well as its faithfulness to the original. But can a group of academics, intensely interested in Hegel and meeting regularly to discuss ideas and renditions, produce a good English translation? Individual translators, although optimally faithful to the author's intent, do have their