Lachs has been a member of the Vanderbilt faculty since 1967. He has written a number of books and countless articles over this period and before. He is also recognized as an outstanding teacher at Vanderbilt faculty, recently receiving the Graduate Teaching Award (2000) and the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Freshmen Award (1999). He was earlier awarded the Madison Sarratt Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (1972). His style is highly accessible as Lachs is committed to making philosophical questions and their discussion something within the grasp of all his audiences. Lachs is a pragmatist in the tradition of William James and Josiah Royce. He is the faculty adviser of Young Americans for Liberty at Vanderbilt University and is a practicing libertarian.

His philosophical interests center on human nature. This takes him into metaphysics, philosophy of mind, political philosophy, and ethics. He has continuing research interests in American philosophy and in German Idealism, along with research and teaching interests in medical and business ethics.

Lachs is general editor of the Encyclopedia of American Philosophy. An issue of The Journal of Speculative Philosophy will be devoted to his essay "Both Better Off and Better: Moral Progress Amid Continuing Carnage," with responses from a half dozen philosophers.

He is also chair of the American Philosophical Association's Centennial Committee, charged with celebrating the private value and social usefulness of philosophy. Plans are being made for activities throughout the country, ranging from radio programs to book signings and coffee house conversations, designed to show the relevance of philosophy to life.

A recipient of the Herbert Schneider Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Philosophy in 1997, Lachs is also the author of the following books, among others:

• Intermediate Man. Hacket Publishers, Indianapolis, 1981, paperback 1983.
• Mind and Philosophers. Vanderbilt University Press, 1987.
• The Relevance of Philosophy to Life, Vanderbilt University Press, 1995.
• In Love with Life, Vanderbilt University Press, 1998.
• Thinking in the Ruins: Wittgenstein and Santayana. Vanderbilt University Press, 2000.
• A Community of Individuals. Routledge, 2003.
• The Philosophy of William Ernest Hocking (ed. with Micah Hester), Vanderbilt University Press 2001.
• "Human Natures," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Association, 1990.