justice: whats the right thing to do? episode 03: "free to choose"

Introduction: "Justice with Michael Sandel"

Lectures 1 & 2

Lecture ane – The Moral Side of Murder
Would you impale one person to save the lives of 5 others? Would it be the right thing to practise? Inviting students to answer to some agreeable hypothetical scenarios, Professor Michael Sandel launches his grade on moral reasoning.

Lecture 2 – The Case for Cannibalism
Sandel introduces the principles of utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham with a famous nineteenth century police instance involving a shipwrecked coiffure of 4. After nineteen days lost at bounding main, the captain decides to kill the motel boy, the weakest amongst them, so they tin feed on his blood and body to survive.

The Lifeboat Example

Justice Dilemma 1

Lectures 3 & iv

Lecture 3 – Putting a Price Tag on Life
Sandel presents some gimmicky cases in which cost-do good analysis was used to put a dollar value on human life. The cases give rise to several objections to the utilitarian logic of seeking "the greatest good for the greatest number." Is it possible to sum upwardly and compare all values using a common measure like coin?

Lecture 4 – How to Mensurate Pleasance
Sandel introduces J. S. Mill, a utilitarian philosopher who argues that seeking "the greatest adept for the greatest number" is compatible with protecting individual rights, and that utilitarianism tin can make room for a distinction between college and lower pleasures.

The Cost of Life & the EPA

The Cost of Life & the EPA: Utilitarianism (Lecture 3)

Opera & Dogfights

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Lectures 5 & half dozen

Lecture 5 – Free to Choose
With humorous references to Pecker Gates and Michael Hashemite kingdom of jordan, Sandel introduces the libertarian notion that redistributive revenue enhancement—taxing the rich to aid the poor—is akin to forced labor.

Lecture half-dozen – Who Owns Me?
Are the successful morally entitled to the benefits that flow from the exercise of their talents? What nearly the fact that wealth is oft due to practiced luck or fortunate family unit circumstances? A grouping of students dubbed "Team Libertarian" defend the libertarian philosophy against this objection.

Motorcycle Helmets

Motorbike Helmets: Libertarianism (Lecture 5)

Sports Coin & Taxes

Sports Money & Taxes: Libertarianism (Lecture half-dozen)

Lectures 7 & viii

Lecture 7 – This Land is My Land
The philosopher John Locke argues that individuals have sure fundamental rights—to life, liberty, and property—that were given to us in "the state of nature," a time before government and laws were created.  How so can individual property arise?

Lecture 8 – Consenting Adults
If we all accept unalienable rights to life, liberty, and holding, how can government enact laws that tax or earnings or send us to state of war? Does this amount to taking our property or our lives without our consent?

Property Rights & Boston Parking

Property Rights & Boston Parking

Lectures nine & x

Lecture nine – Hired Guns?
During the Civil War, men drafted into war had the choice of hiring substitutes to fight in their place. Many students say they find that policy unjust, arguing that information technology is unfair to allow the flush to pay less privileged citizens to fight in their identify.  Is today'due south voluntary army open up to the same objection?

Lecture 10 – For Sale: Maternity
Sandel examines costless-market commutation as information technology relates to reproductive rights. Examples include the business of egg and sperm donation and the instance of "Baby M"—a famous law case that raised the unsettling question, "Who owns a babe?"

Military Service: Markets & Morals

Armed forces Service: Markets & Morals

Surrogacy: Market & Morals

Surrogacy: Market & Morals (Lecture ten)

Lectures 11 & 12

Lecture xi: Heed Your Motive
Sandel introduces Immanuel Kant, a challenging only influential philosopher.  For Kant morality means acting out of duty—doing something because it is correct, non because it is prudent or convenient.  Kant gives the example of a shopkeeper who passes upwards the chance to shortchange a customer but because his business concern might suffer if other customers found out.  According to Kant, the shopkeeper'due south activeness lacks moral worth, because he did the right thing for the wrong reason.

Lecture 12: The Supreme Principle of Morality
Immanuel Kant says that insofar equally our deportment have moral worth, what confers moral worth is our capacity to ascent above self-interest and inclination and to act out of duty.  Using several real life examples, Sandel explains Kant's test for determining whether an action is morally right: to identify the principle expressed in our action and then inquire whether that principle could always go a universal police that every other man existence could act on.

The Shopkeeper's Activeness

The Shopkeeper's Activity: Immanuel Kant (Lecture 11)

Kant and Human Dignity: The Case of Torture

Kant and Human Dignity

Lectures thirteen & 14

Lecture thirteen – A Lesson in Lying
Immanuel Kant believed that telling a lie, even a white lie, is a violation of ane'due south own dignity. Sandel asks students to test Kant's theory with this hypothetical case: if a friend were hiding within your domicile, and a murderer came to your door and asked you where he was, would information technology be wrong to lie to him? This leads to a video prune of one of the about famous, recent examples of dodging the truth: President Clinton talking about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Lecture 14 – A Deal is a Deal
Sandel introduces the modern philosopher, John Rawls, who argues that a just guild is ane governed past principles we would cull if we did not know what advantages nosotros would possess or what role in society nosotros would occupy.

Lying to a Murderer

Lying to a Murderer: Immanuel Kant (Lecture 12 & 13)

David Hume & the Contractor

David Hume & the Contractor: The Morality of Consent (Lecture 14)

Lectures fifteen & 16

Lecture fifteen – What's a Fair Start?
Rawls argues that even a meritocracy—a distributive system that rewards effort—doesn't go far enough in leveling the playing field because the successful tin can't claim to deserve the talents that enable them to get ahead.  Success ofttimes depends on factors as capricious as birth gild. Sandel makes Rawls's bespeak when he asks the students who were showtime born in their family to raise their easily.

Lecture 16 – What do Nosotros Deserve?
Sandel discusses the fairness of pay differentials in mod society. He compares the salary of one-time Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ($200,000) with the bacon of television's Estimate Judy ($25 million). Sandel asks, is this fair?

A Thought Experiment

A Idea Experiment: John Rawls (Lecture 15)

Inheritance Tax

Inheritance Tax: Who Deserve What? (Lecture 16)

Lectures 17 & 18

Lecture 17 - Arguing Affirmative Activeness
Is it but to consider race and ethnicity as factors in college admissions? Students talk over the pros and cons of affirmative action and discuss some controversial court cases.

Lecture 18 - What'southward the Purpose?
Sandel introduces Aristotle and his theory of justice. Aristotle disagrees with Rawls and Kant. He believes that justice is about giving people their due, what they deserve. The best flutes, for case, should go to the best flute players. And the highest political offices should get to those with the best judgment and the greatest civic virtue.

Affirmative Action

Affirmative Action (Lecture 17)

The Violin

The Violin: The Good Citizen (Lecture 18 & 19)

Lectures 19 & 20

Lecture 19 - The Proficient Citizen
Aristotle believes the purpose of politics is to promote and cultivate the virtue of its citizens. Thetelos or goal of the land and political customs is the "good life". And those citizens who contribute most to the purpose of the community are the ones who should be almost rewarded. Merely how do we know the purpose of a customs or a exercise? Aristotle's theory of justice leads to a contemporary debate well-nigh golf. Sandel describes the case of a disabled golfer who sued the PGA afterwards it declined his request to use a golf cart.

Lecture xx - Liberty VS. Fit
How does Aristotle address the result of private rights and the freedom to choose? In this lecture, Sandel addresses one of the almost glaring objections to Aristotle—his defense of slavery as a fitting social role for certain human beings. Students discuss other objections to Aristotle's theories and argue whether his philosophy overly restricts the freedom of individuals.

Casey Martin and the Telos of Golf

Casey Martin and the Telos of Golf game: Aristotle (Lecture xx)

Lectures 21 & 22

Lecture 21 – The Claims of Community
Are all obligations based on consent, or are we as well bound by unchosen obligations of membership and solidarity?

Lecture 22 – Where Our Loyalty Lies
Exercise nosotros owe more to our fellow citizens that to citizens of other countries? Is patriotism a virtue, or a prejudice for one'due south own kind? Do I have a special responsibleness for righting the wrongs of my keen grandparents' generation?

Justice, Community, and Membership

Denizen Responsibility: Justice, Community, and Membership (Lecture 21)

Honesty vs. Loyalty?

Friendship & Honesty: Dilemmas of Loyalty (Lecture 22)

Collective Responsibility?

Collective responsibility for past wrongs

Lectures 23 & 24

Lecture 23 – Debating Same-Sex activity Marriage
If principles of justice depend on the moral or intrinsic worth of the ends that rights serve, how should nosotros deal with the fact that people hold different ideas and conceptions of what is good? Students address this question in a debate about same-sexual activity marriage. Can nosotros settle the matter without discussing the moral status of homosexuality and the purpose of marriage?

Lecture 24 – The Skilful Life
In his concluding lecture, Sandel challenges the notion that government and law should be neutral on hard moral questions. He argues that engaging, rather than fugitive, the moral convictions of our fellow citizens may be the best way of seeking a just society.

Debating Same Sex Marriage

Debating Same Sex Marriage (Lecture 23)

Readings

• 2009. Justice: What's the Right Matter to Do?. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.Abstract

  "More than exhilarating; exciting in its ability to persuade this student/reader, time and again, that the principle now being invoked—on this page, in this chapter—is the one to deliver the sufficiently inclusive guide to the making of a decent life." (Vivian Gornick, Boston Review)

  "Sandel explains theories of justice…with clarity and immediacy; the ideas of Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Manufacturing plant, Robert Nozick and John Rawls have rarely, if ever, been set out equally accessibly…. In terms we can all understand, 'Justice' confronts us with the concepts that lurk, so often unacknowledged, beneath our conflicts."  (Jonathan Rauch, New York Times)

  "Sandel dazzles in this sweeping survey of hot topics…. Erudite, conversational and deeply humane, this is truly transformative reading." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

  "A spellbinding philosopher…. For Michael Sandel, justice is not a spectator sport…. He is calling for nothing less than a reinvigoration of citizenship."  (Samuel Moyn, The Nation)

  "Michael Sandel, peradventure the about prominent college professor in America…practices the all-time kind of academic populism, managing to simplify John Stuart Mill and John Rawls without existence simplistic. But Sandel is best at what he calls bringing 'moral clarity to the alternatives we confront equally autonomous citizens'…. He ends upwardly clarifying a bones political divide -- not between left and right, simply betwixt those who recognize nothing greater than individual rights and choices, and those who assert a 'politics of the common good,' rooted in moral behavior that tin't be ignored."  (Michael Gerson, Washington Post)

  "Justice, the new volume from superstar Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel, showcases the thinking on public morality that has made him 1 of the most sought-after lecturers in the globe." (Richard Reeves, Democracy)

  "Hard cases may make bad police force, only in Michael Sandel's easily they produce some cool philosophy…. Justice is a timely plea for us to desist from political bickering and see if we can have a sensible discussion about what sort of society nosotros really desire to alive in."  (Jonathan Ree, The Observer (London))

  "Every once in a while, a book comes forth of such grace, power, and wit that it enthralls usa with a yearning to know what justice is.  This is such a volume."  (Jeffrey Abramson, Texas Constabulary Review)

  "Using a compelling, entertaining mix of hypotheticals, news stories, episodes from history, pop-culture tidbits, literary examples, legal cases and teachings from the great philosophers—principally, Aristotle, Kant, Bentham, Mill and Rawls—Sandel takes on a variety of controversial issues—abortion, same-sex matrimony, affirmative action—and forces u.s.a. to confront our own assumptions, biases and lazy idea…. Sparkling commentary from the professor nosotros all wish we had."  (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

  "Michael Sandel is…one of the world'south most interesting political philosophers. Politicians and commentators tend to ask 2 questions of policy: will it brand voters better off, and will information technology bear upon their liberty? Sandel rightly points out the shallowness of that debate and adds a third criterion: how will it affect the common good?"  (Guardian)

  "Michael Sandel transforms moral philosophy past putting it at the centre of civic argue…. Sandel belongs to the tradition, dating dorsum to ancient Greece, which sees moral philosophy as an outgrowth and refinement of civic debate. Like Aristotle, he seeks to systematize educated mutual sense, non to replace information technology with expert knowledge or abstract principles.  This accounts for one of the most striking and bonny features of Justice—its apply of examples drawn from real legal and political controversies…. Sandel's insistence on the inescapably upstanding graphic symbol of political debate is enormously refreshing."  (Edward Skidelsky, New Statesman)

  "His ability to observe the broad issues at the eye of everyday concerns verges on the uncanny, and his lucid explanations of classic figures such equally Mill, Kant, and Aristotle are worth the price of admission."  (William A. Galston, Commonweal)

  "A remarkable educational achievement…. Generations of students and educated citizens volition be very well served past Sandel's introductory overviews."  (Amitai Etzioni, Hedgehog Review)

  "Reading 'Justice' by Michael Sandel is an intoxicating invitation to take autonomously and examine how we arrive at our notions of right and incorrect….This is enlivening stuff. Sandel is not looking to win an argument; he's looking at how a denizen might best engage the public realm." (Karen R. Long, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

  "Sandel is a champion of a politics of the common good. He wants us to recollect of ourselves as citizens, non only consumers or isolated choosers.  For him, justice demands that we enquire what kind of people and club nosotros want (or ought) to be."  (John A. Coleman, America)

   "Michael Sandel, political philosopher and public intellectual, is a liberal, but non the annoying sort.  His aim is not to boss people around simply to bring them around to the pleasures of thinking conspicuously nigh big questions of social policy.  Reading this lucid volume is like taking his famous undergraduate course 'Justice' without the tiresome parts, such every bit term papers and exams."  (George F. Will, syndicated columnist)

  "Justice is Sandel at his finest: no affair what your views are, his delightful mode will describe you in, and he'll then force you to rethink your assumptions and challenge y'all to question accustomed ways of thinking. He calls united states of america to a better way of doing politics, and a more than enriching way of living our lives."  (Due east. J. Dionne, syndicated columnist)

• Sandel Michael J. 1982. Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. ( 2nd Edition 1998) . Cambridge University Press.Abstract

  "His is a new and accurate philosophical voice…. Michael Sandel'south elegantly argued book…describes what I accept to be the reality of moral feel." – Michael Walzer, The New Republic

  "Sandel's Liberalism and the Limits of Justice is a gracefully—even beautifully—written book that I would imagine is destined to be something of a classic on the subject." – Chilton Williamson, Jr., National Review

  "Sandel'south book is exemplary.  Information technology is passionate and unrelenting, and yet meticulous and scrupulous in its argumentation…. [A]lways fair to its target, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice develops the best and nigh constructive interpretations with which to disagree…. Information technology is the great virtue of this book, of its justness and generosity of spirit, that…ane can come up abroad from this volume moved to deepen and improve the vision he criticizes." – Charles Fried, Harvard Constabulary Review

  "This brilliantly written critique of Rawls…can be read as an of import contribution toward the reconstruction of liberal political theory." – Steven M. DeLue, American Political Science Review

  "Sandel's remarkable work forces us to take seriously the question: what kind of subjects must we be for our talk of justice and rights to make sense? He uncovers the strains and contractions in much contemporary liberalism. This is political philosophy on the level it should be written, against our moral beliefs with our best understanding of human nature." – Charles Taylor, McGill University

  "A genuinely important and philosophical book…written with style and precision…. Sandel's account of friendship and cocky-knowledge is luminous." – Ronald Beiner, Times Higher Education Supplement

  "[S]ometimes soaring to exhilarating eloquence and flashes of insight…Liberalism and the Limits of Justice offers fresh and plausible readings of what politics is and might be." – Stephen Whitfield, Worldview

  "Sandel [goes to] the heart of the epistemological confusions inherent in modern philosophical liberalism…. The real issue of Sandel's argument is…to reassert [the] fundamental lesson…that at the middle of all philosophy is political philosophy. – Mark Lilla, The Public Involvement

  "Sandel'south outstanding book is a significant and fascinating contribution…. Sandel'south signal about the liberal conception of the self is heady and significant in several means." – Richard Fentiman, Cambridge Police Journal

  "Sandel offers an extended, very penetrating critique of what he calls the 'deep individualism' embedded in the bounds of Rawlsian theory—and, more by and large, in the foundations of liberal political theories which are influenced by Kantian moral philosophy.  This is fresh work of major importance to the ongoing give-and-take of justice and individualism…." – Norman Care, No ûs

  "This clear and forceful volume provides very elegant and cogent arguments against the attempt to use a certain formulation of the self, a certain metaphysical view of what homo beings are like, to legitimate liberal politics." – Richard Rorty, in "The Priority of Democracy to Philosophy," in Rorty, Objectivism, Relativism, and Truth

  "[John Rawls's A Theory of Justice] is widely viewed every bit the most of import piece of work of political philosophy to be written in our fourth dimension.  It certainly has been the most widely discussed.  Of all the commentary it has spawned, none has been more important than the critique offered by Michael Sandel in a book published in 1982 chosen Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, which succeeded in calling into question some of Rawls's more than fundamental premises." – R. Bruce Douglass, Commonwealth

  "Sandel's work builds very strongly on A Theory of Justice by John Rawls, taking its identify equally the next voice in the running conversation of political theory…. Where critiques are often used by their author equally a ways to build their own name upward past tearing down someone else'southward name, Sandel'south is such a conscientious study that it ends upwardly enhancing the stature of the piece of work it builds upon." – Chistopher Budd, The Philosophers' Magazine

  "Even though Sandel is critical of Rawls, he is scrupulously fair and respectful…. 1 cannot read Liberalism and the Limits of Justice without acquiring a deeper and clearer understanding of Rawls' theory…. Sandel's impressive work…illuminates not but Rawls' theory but too the nature of moral argument…. It is an outstanding accomplishment." – William Powers, Texas Law Review

• Sandel Michael J. 1994. "Political Liberalism." Harvard Constabulary Review.

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Source: https://scholar.harvard.edu/sandel/justice

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