Emmanuel Chaput has taught philosophy at Johns Hopkins University (USA), University of Quebec at Montreal (Canada), and University of Ottawa (Canada). He earned his doctorate from the University of Ottawa with a thesis on the concept of life in Hegel’s system and pursued his post-doctorate research on Hegel’s political thought at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses mainly on 19th-century German philosophy, especially Hegel and the Young Hegelians.
Dr. Emmanuel Chaput
Period at the center: October 2025 – December 2025; April 2026 - June 2027
Research Project: From Political Organicism to Social Metabolism: The Genesis of a Dialectical Theory of Society from Hegel to Marx
Email: chaputemmanuel@yahoo.ca
WebsiteResearch Project
From Political Organicism to Social Metabolism: The Genesis of a Dialectical Theory of Society from Hegel to Marx
This project seeks to evaluate Hegel’s organicist conception of society as a matrix for a general theory of society. More specifically, it focuses on the idea of social dynamics and conflict in Hegel and the Hegelian School. The idea is to trace the genesis of the transition from the Hegelian conception of society as an organism to the Marxian conception of society as a metabolism. In both cases, we are dealing with central features of life, whether biological or social. My aim is therefore to trace back the development of society as a form of life, within the history of ideas between Hegel and Marx, and to show how these two perspectives entertain a dialogue and can provide insights on their respective limits and contemporary relevance. Finally, the goal is to show the topicality of both Hegel’s organicist conception of society (notably in contemporary Critical Theory) and Marx’s metabolic conception of society in a context of social, political and environmental turmoil
Selected publications
Articles
“‘Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht’. Hegel’s Early Critique of Fichte’s Doctrine of Right (Jena 1801-1806)”, in: History of Political Thought 46:2 (2025) (forthcoming)
“The Idea of Philosophy and the Relevance of System and Life in Hegel”, in: The Owl of Minerva (forthcoming)