MAP Talk: Karen Ng (Vanderbilt)
Minorities and Philosophy Talks
September 18, 2026
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Location
1430 UH
Calendar
Download iCal FileProfessor Karen Ng of Vanderbilt University will be giving a talk titled “Species-Being: A Fundamental Concept of Social Theory" On September 18th.
Abstract:
This paper aims to present an outline of the concept of “species-being” (Gattungswesen) as a fundamental concept of social theory in contrast to prominent accounts that locate this concept within philosophical anthropology. In presenting this case, I will draw primarily from ideas found in Hegel and Marx and defend three interconnected dimensions of this concept: first, concerning the relation between individuality and sociality, understood as a development of post-Kantian philosophical contributions to the idea of self-consciousness (section 1); second, concerning the idea of social freedom (section 2); and third, its potential contributions to a social-theoretic understanding of the human/non-human nature relationship, in light of the first two dimensions (section 3). Throughout, I attempt to show that species-being can be understood as a core social-theoretical concept without reliance on assumptions about human supremacy or anthropological difference.
Date posted
Aug 31, 2026
Date updated
Aug 31, 2026