97 - Brian Leiter: Karl Marx, Ideology, and Historical Materialism

Brian Leiter is Karl N. Llewellyn Professor of Jurisprudence at the University of Chicago Law School, founder and Director of Chicago’s Center for Law, Philosophy & Human Values, and is best known in the philosophical world for his work on Nietzsche and legal philosophy. He is the founding editor of the Routledge Philosophers book series, Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Law, and Philosophical Gourmet Report, which is the canonical—as well as extremely helpful and illuminating—ranking of philosophy departments and PhD programs in the English-speaking world. He also maintains the world’s most popular philosophy blog, Leiter Reports. In this episode, Robinson and Brian discuss Karl Marx and a current book he is co-writing with Jaime Edwards for the Routledge Philosophers book series. Among the topics they discuss are Historical Materialism, ideology, Marx’s critique of capitalism, and exploitation. Brian’s latest book is Moral Psychology with Nietzsche (Oxford, 2021).

Brian’s Website: https://www.brianleiter.net

Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianLeiter

Leiter Reports: https://leiterreports.typepad.com

Moral Psychology with Nietzsche: https://a.co/d/3dJZBeZ

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:50 Introduction

06:38 Brian’s Interest in Marx

13:22 Historical Materialism

33:06 Big Business and Diversity

40:16 Ideology

58:04 Is Historical Materialism True?

01:01:45 Exploitation

01:11:38 Is Brian a Marxist?