Nature in the Social World II: Karen Ng on "What is the Gattungsprozess?"

Karen Ng's monograph Hegel's Concept of Life has become an essential reading for scholars and students of German idealism. At the same time, Ng's interest in the notion of life has important implications for the relation of Hegel and Marx, which makes her presentation an ideal follow up on a workshop recently held at King's College London. The workshop organised by Matteo Mameli and Leonard Weiß was entitled Nature in the Social World: Perspectives on Hegel and Marx and collected contributions addressing the significance of nature and natural things in the work of both authors.

Adding to the presentations given by Luca Basso (University of Padua), Claudio Corradetti (University of Rome), Giorgio Cesarale (University of Venice), Leonard Weiss (KCL), Salvatore Tiné (University of Catania), and Tatiana Llaguno (UPF Barcelona), Karen Ng will speak on the topic of: What is the Gattungsprozess?

Abstract: In this talk, I analyze the key features of what Hegel calls the Gattungsprozess — the process of species-life — and defend its importance for an account of social freedom. Specifically, I argue that we can view theGattungsprozess as providing the basis for a broadly historical materialist approach to social freedom in which this depends upon and is articulated through two processes: first, the metabolic exchange with an environment that has both natural and social characteristics; and second, social reproduction. In developing this Hegelian-Marxian account of social freedom, I argue against existing accounts that focus exclusively on institutional recognition. Instead, I show that social freedom is the historical and self-conscious realization of a concrete Gattungsprozess, the central aim of which is the production and reproduction of free individuals. One of the key contributions of Hegel and Marx is thus to provide an account of free individuality as possible and historically realizable only within the context of species-life and its ongoing reproduction.

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Nature in the Social World:

Although there does not seem to be a straightforwardly ‘natural’ way of ordering human society, appeals to nature have played an important role in theorising the social world. Virgil’s bees or Hobbes’s wolfs are examples for how natural entities function as analogies for elements of social interaction. At least from Plato onwards, the idea has been around that human society either resembles or even is a living organism.

This latter notion plays a central role in Hegel’s account of the “state as a self-relating organism” (PR §259). While it remains an open question how exactly Hegel intends this, he certainly thinks that fundamental social achievements depend on the realisation of structures common to the social and the biological whole. In particular, this pertains to the tension between our strivings for individual freedom on the one hand, and for human community on the other. While many interpretations of Hegel’s social philosophy keep considerable distance from its metaphysical underpinnings, the topic of organicism invites a dialogue between Logic, Philosophy of Nature, and Spirit. At the same time, it also constitutes a crucial reference point for other philosophers’ dialogue with Hegel – critics and disciples alike.

Unsurprisingly then, organicism looms large in Marx’s engagement with Hegelian thought. Marx admires Hegel’s approach “to treat the political state as an organism” (MEC 3.11). At the same time however, he worries that Hegel’s tendency to treat the idea of organic unity as literally productive of social reality, has problematic corollaries: it can distract from real social conflicts (MEC 3.59) and sustain the illusion of social harmony where oppressive power-relations prevail (MEC 3.90). Not only are these issues important for understanding Marx’s relation to Hegel, they also have ties to important themes in the broader context of Marx’s project. Among other topics this concerns: his scepticism about the state, his advocacy for universal human community, as well as his observation that the production of surplus value transgresses natural limitations.

Note on Event Page Image:

The image from a 16th century model book for painters displays the Roman goddess Spes (Hope) surrounded by bees. In antiquity, bees were associated with prosperity but also with the idea of community which is to be found both in the natural world and in human society. While the connection to the goddess of hope is a later addition, it invites the thought that reflection on nature can help to make a positive contribution to the theory of the social world.