Species-being, Metabolism, and Natural Limits

Abstract

This article reexamines the concept of species-being as the central normative framework of Marx’s critical project, in continuity with the Kantian and post-Kantian tradition of critique. The study explores how this concept, in its relation to that of natural limits, structures Marx’s understanding of the metabolic interaction between human beings and nature and underpins his critique of the unrestricted accumulation logic of capital. To this end, the article first analyzes the concepts of self-consciousness and species-being as developed primarily by Hegel and Marx. It then proposes an interpretation of the notion of natural limits in connection with that of species-being, shedding light on the meaning of Marx’s thesis that capital operates in an unlimited or boundless manner. The article concludes that the concept of natural limits, by reconciling restriction with the human capacity for self-transcendence, constitutes Marx’s critical framework against the unlimited expansion of capital, which is indifferent to the rationality and intrinsic purpose of the human form of life.