[SydPhil] UOW Agora Speaker Series – Dr. Michael Lazarus (Deakin University) – Thursday 14 August, 3.30pm

[Elena Walsh]

Dear all,



The next seminar in this semester's Agora series will be:


Dr. Michael Lazarus (Deakin University)

Ethics and Karl Marx’s Critique of Capitalism

Thursday, August 14, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Building 20, Room 3, University of Wollongong (Keiraville)



Abstract

Karl Marx is often thought of as having very little to offer moral
philosophy. For decades, Anglo-American philosophers have debated if Marx’s
thought is “amoral” and if his discussion of “exploitation” is normative or
descriptive. Against these typical views, I argue that Marx is best
understood in a tradition of ethics originating in Aristotle and Hegel that
envisions the human good in the life-well lived of the political community.
In Absolute Ethical Life (2025), I suggest that Marx’s early alienation
critique is not only preserved in Capital, but the concept of abstract
labour further develops his appraisal of domination and estrangement. Capital
not only sets out to understand capitalism in thought, but at the same time
looks to grasp why social life is impoverished by relations of abstract
sociality. The limitlessness accumulation of capital acts as a barrier to
mutual recognition between interdependent social agents and the form of
life conducive to our flourishing. Drawing out the ethics of Marx’s
critique of “value” pays rich dividends to grasping the role of human
action in his thinking.



Bio

Michael Lazarus is a post-doctoral research fellow at the Alfred Deakin
Institute. Until recently, he was a visiting postdoctoral fellow at Yale
University. He works across political theory, moral philosophy and
political theory. His writing has appeared in Constellations, Philosophy
and Social Criticism, Thesis Eleven, Historical Materialism and critical
theory publications. He has an article on Smith and Hegel on poverty
forthcoming in the Cambridge Journal of Economics. His popular writing has
been published in places including Jacobin and The Conversation. His next
book focuses on Smith and Hegel.


This is an in-person event and there is no need to register. All welcome.



-- 

*Dr. Elena Walsh*

Lecturer

School of Liberal Arts

Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities | 94.19

University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia

*T *+61 2 4220 5692

*W *elenawalsh.squarespace.com
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