The Human
Projects
The Human
The figure of ‘the human’ is basic to the notion of a shared species and correlated normative constructs like human rights, legal personhood, and citizenship. The idea of universal humanity features centrally in Western culture, though it is often taken to be natural rather than historically shaped, and often articulated without adequate attention to sex and gender, implicit racialization, and the existence of different understandings from different traditions.
Rethinking the Human in Social Theory
Western social theory often takes for granted the idea of “the human”—treating it as a neutral background. Yet these ideas are deeply entangled with conceptions of the self, personhood, and individuality, and are more complex and contested than they first appear. In this body of work, Craig Calhoun explores how these notions have evolved and how they relate to political, legal, and cultural transformations of human identity.
Featured Lecture Series
The Human in Human Rights
A three-part lecture series delivered at the London School of Economics.
Related Inquiry
The Corporation as a Person
An exploration of legal, political, and cultural conceptions of the corporation as an autonomous—or even sovereign—entity. This inquiry raises key questions about how we define and assign "personhood."
Selected Publications
- Secularism and Social Transformation : Keynote Address to the European Academy of Religion. Published in EUARE Lectures 2019, pp. 19–55. Bologna: EUARE.