Genus

A central but ambiguous concept, which must be distinguished on two levels (see Ch. 19.5): 1. **Logical/Abstract:** In the Idea of Life (Ch. 19.4.3), "genus" designates the universal (U) that preserves itself through the generations in the process of **self-sublation** (e.g., the "scientific tradition," "institutional identity"). It is the abstract structure of continuity in transformation (preserving, overcoming, elevating). 2. **Concrete/Philosophy of Nature:** In the philosophy of real being (discussed by Hegel in Enc. §342, by us in Ch. 19.4.5), "genus" is the concrete biological process of reproduction (e.g., male-female genus). The logic (1) shows the universal form of self-sublation; nature (2) is its first concrete realization.