Podcast Summary: New Books Network

Episode: Michael Lazarus, "Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx" (Stanford UP, 2025)
Date: October 26, 2025
Host: Mortaza Hajizadeh
Guest: Dr. Michael Lazarus (King’s College London)

Overview

This episode explores Dr. Michael Lazarus’s new book, Absolute Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel and Marx (Stanford UP, 2025). Lazarus examines the intersections and evolution of ethical life and human flourishing through the philosophies of Aristotle, Hegel, and Marx, connecting them to contemporary critiques of capitalism, political action, and moral theory. This thoughtful discussion brings in additional theorists like Hannah Arendt and Alasdair MacIntyre, delving into both theoretical frameworks and practical implications for activism, justice, and collective life today.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dr. Lazarus’s Background and Motivation for the Book

• Interest: Political theory, political economy, ethical thought.
• Origins: Inspired by radical activism (Occupy movement) and academic frustration with superficial readings of Marx’s ethics; motivated by the perceived hesitancy in both academia and activist circles to engage deeply with Marx’s ethics.
• Quote:

  “The notion of ethics was fairly central in Marx's critique of capitalism, a vital part of his thought, despite there being some hesitancy...in both activist and academic discussion as well.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 06:28)

2. Absolute Ethical Life—Title Explained (07:51)

• Term Origin: Drawn from Hegel’s concept distinguishing between individual morality (relative ethical life) and broader, institutionally-anchored ethics (absolute ethical life), further developed by Gillian Rose.
• Argument: Hegel’s “absolute” is often viewed with suspicion by Marxists, but Lazarus argues this idea can enrich Marxist critique of capitalism.
• Thread: Ethical life as a tradition linking Aristotle, Hegel, and Marx—each committed to collective flourishing and practices, although with differing historical and political articulations.

3. Marx’s View: Capitalism as a Form of Life (13:01)

• Main Point: Capitalism is more than an economic system; it's a pervasive social form with ethical and political dimensions.
• Aim: To show capitalism shapes and dominates all aspects of public and private life, not just economic relations.
• Quote:

  “Trying to grasp capitalism as a form of life is a way to grasp social totality…to critique economic ways of thinking and the domination of the economic over the political.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 13:40)

4. Engagement with Hannah Arendt: Praxis & Freedom (15:49)

• Analysis: Arendt separates “praxis” (public action) from production, criticizing Marx for allegedly subordinating freedom to production.
• Response: Lazarus contends Arendt misreads Marx—particularly the distinction between alienated and unalienated labor—and that a richer reading shows Marx’s robust account of free collective action.
• Arendt’s Relevance: Arendt’s idea of council democracy is used as a bridge to show shared aspirations for democratic praxis in Marx.
• Quote:

  “Marx is very much interested in a political theory of human action. And part of Oran's concern with that is just how central it is to his way of thinking, despite what she gets wrong.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 19:59)

5. Alasdair MacIntyre: Ethics as Virtue & Small-Scale Communities (21:21, 29:42)

• MacIntyre’s Critique: Modern moral philosophy is fragmented, caught between Kantian rules and utilitarian happiness, losing connection with communal practices where virtue thrives.
• Lazarus’s Response: Agrees with embedding virtue in practices, but warns MacIntyre’s focus on small communities risks pessimism or localism, which is insufficient against global structures like the capitalist state.
• Quote:

  “If it’s just the politics of the small community, it ends up being extremely limited when it comes to combating the kind of the threat of the state, in particular the capitalist state…”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 32:21)

• Synthesis: Calls for linking small practices to wider, universal politics of transformation.

6. Ethical Life: Aristotle, Hegel, and Marx (36:22–43:27)

• Hegel: Builds on Aristotelian ethics, modernizing them by integrating subjectivity, autonomy, and institutional forms of collective recognition.
• Marx: Advances a similar picture—humans as rational, historical beings striving for freedom. His ideas of “species-being” and “social individuals” echo Aristotle, but in a historical, dialectical mode.
• Quote:

  “Marx has an idea of freedom in which we can flourish together...taking up the Aristotelian picture but...with Hegelian modifications.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 42:30)

7. Robinson Crusoe and the Social Individual (43:32)

• Symbolism: Robinson Crusoe is often invoked to model the abstract liberal individual. Marx references Crusoe to critique this abstraction, emphasizing that value and ethical life are social and historical.
• Literature: Draws on Said’s postcolonial reading, connecting individualism to colonial and capitalist histories.

8. Ethics as Social-Historical Practice (48:59)

• Core Claim: Ethics is not just personal conduct but social, institutional, and historical—rooted in “how we should live” collectively.
• Institutions: Family, work, and the state embody and frame ethical life.
• Quote:

  “Often we think of morality in individual terms...but those types of questions can only be adequately understood within the broader commitment to...how should we live.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 49:30)

9. Value Form Theory and its Ethical Implications (52:13)

• What Is It: Marx’s “value form” argues value is a social relationship formed by labor under capitalism, not inherent properties of objects (as in classical political economy).
• Critique: Demystifies commodity fetishism—shows how labor, cooperation, and recognition are distorted by capitalist abstraction and domination.
• Transformation: Recognizing the social basis of value opens possibilities for new forms of cooperation and ethical life.

10. Relevance for Today: Political Action & Emancipation (60:04–64:06)

• Application: Calls for systematic, institutional change—not just personal virtue—in response to crises like inequality, climate change, and democratic erosion.
• Normative Ethics: Must be linked to a critique of political economy to be effective and emancipatory.
• Quote:

  “We need systematic solutions to those problems and that individual action in terms of be the change...is not going to cut it. We need to think about...how a type of normative ethics needs to look at the critique of political economy.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 62:07)

Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• “The notion of ethics was fairly central in Marx's critique of capitalism, a vital part of his thought, despite there being some hesitancy...in both activist and academic discussion as well.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 06:28)

• “Trying to grasp capitalism as a form of life is a way to grasp social totality…to critique economic ways of thinking and the domination of the economic over the political.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 13:40)

• “If it’s just the politics of the small community, it ends up being extremely limited when it comes to combating the...capitalist state...”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 32:21)

• “Marx has an idea of freedom in which we can flourish together...taking up the Aristotelian picture but...with Hegelian modifications.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 42:30)

• “Often we think of morality in individual terms...but those types of questions can only be adequately understood within the broader commitment to...how should we live.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 49:30)

• “We need systematic solutions to those problems and that individual action in terms of be the change...is not going to cut it. We need to think about...how a type of normative ethics needs to look at the critique of political economy.”
  (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 62:07)

Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp | |---------|-------|-----------| | Introduction & Author Background | 01:54–06:58 | | Title/Concept of the Book | 06:58–12:09 | | Marx: Capitalism as Form of Life | 12:09–15:03 | | Marx, Praxis & Hannah Arendt | 15:03–20:18 | | Alasdair MacIntyre & Virtue | 21:21–29:42 | | Critique of Small-Scale Communities | 29:42–36:22 | | Hegel & Ethical Life | 36:22–39:46 | | Marx & Human Flourishing | 39:46–43:27 | | Robinson Crusoe & Social Individual | 43:27–48:00 | | Ethics as Historical Practice | 48:59–52:13 | | Value Form Theory & Ethics | 52:13–60:04 | | Practical Relevance & Institutional Emancipation | 60:04–64:06 | | Conclusion & Forthcoming Work | 64:06–End |

Memorable Moments

• The intersection of literature and political theory with the discussion of Robinson Crusoe as a lens to critique both liberal individualism and the colonial underpinnings of capitalist ethics. (43:32–48:00)
• The layered engagement with MacIntyre’s argument for small-scale communities: “We can retain an idea of communities of practice...but it has to kind of link up with a broader, more universal form of politics...” (Dr. Michael Lazarus, 33:36)
• Throughout, Lazarus’s effort to make complex theory applicable to urgent contemporary issues, insisting on institutional, not just personal, responses to crises.

Summary Takeaway

Dr. Michael Lazarus’s Absolute Ethical Life weaves together classical and modern philosophy to illuminate the ethical heartbeat of Marxist critique. The episode thoughtfully navigates questions of human flourishing, the nature of ethical life, and the perpetual tension between personal virtue and collective structures—offering both theoretical depth and pointed contemporary relevance for listeners seeking to understand or transform the world.