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Introduction: "Justice with Michael Sandel"

Lectures 1 & 2

Lecture 1 – The Moral Side of Murder
Would you kill one person to save the lives of five others? Would it be the right thing to do? Inviting students to respond to some amusing hypothetical scenarios, Professor Michael Sandel launches his course on moral reasoning.

Lecture 2 – The Case for Cannibalism
Sandel introduces the principles of utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham with a famous nineteenth century law case involving a shipwrecked crew of four. After nineteen days lost at sea, the captain decides to kill the cabin boy, the weakest amongst them, so they can feed on his blood and body to survive.

The Lifeboat Case

Justice Dilemma 1

Lectures 3 & 4

Lecture 3 – Putting a Price Tag on Life
Sandel presents some contemporary cases in which cost-benefit 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 up and compare all values using a common measure like money?

Lecture 4 – How to Measure Pleasure
Sandel introduces J. S. Mill, a utilitarian philosopher who argues that seeking "the greatest good for the greatest number" is compatible with protecting individual rights, and that utilitarianism can make room for a distinction between higher 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 & 6

Lecture 5 – Free to Choose
With humorous references to Bill Gates and Michael Jordan, Sandel introduces the libertarian notion that redistributive taxation—taxing the rich to help the poor—is akin to forced labor.

Lecture 6 – Who Owns Me?
Are the successful morally entitled to the benefits that flow from the exercise of their talents? What about the fact that wealth is often due to good luck or fortunate family circumstances? A group of students dubbed "Team Libertarian" defend the libertarian philosophy against this objection.

Motorcycle Helmets

Motorcycle Helmets: Libertarianism (Lecture 5)

Sports Money & Taxes

Sports Money & Taxes: Libertarianism (Lecture 6)

Lectures 7 & 8

Lecture 7 – This Land is My Land
The philosopher John Locke argues that individuals have certain 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 then can private property arise?

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

Property Rights & Boston Parking

Property Rights & Boston Parking

Lectures 9 & 10

Lecture 9 – Hired Guns?
During the Civil War, men drafted into war had the option of hiring substitutes to fight in their place. Many students say they find that policy unjust, arguing that it is unfair to allow the affluent to pay less privileged citizens to fight in their place.  Is today's voluntary army open to the same objection?

Lecture 10 – For Sale: Motherhood
Sandel examines free-market exchange as it relates to reproductive rights. Examples include the business of egg and sperm donation and the case of "Baby M"—a famous law case that raised the unsettling question, "Who owns a baby?"

Military Service: Markets & Morals

Military Service: Markets & Morals

Surrogacy: Market & Morals

Surrogacy: Market & Morals (Lecture 10)

Lectures 11 & 12

Lecture 11: Mind Your Motive
Sandel introduces Immanuel Kant, a challenging but influential philosopher.  For Kant morality means acting out of duty—doing something because it is right, not because it is prudent or convenient.  Kant gives the example of a shopkeeper who passes up the chance to shortchange a customer only because his business might suffer if other customers found out.  According to Kant, the shopkeeper's action 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 as our actions have moral worth, what confers moral worth is our capacity to rise 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 ask whether that principle could ever become a universal law that every other human being could act on.

The Shopkeeper's Action

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

Kant and Human Dignity: The Case of Torture

Kant and Human Dignity

Lectures 13 & 14

Lecture 13 – A Lesson in Lying
Immanuel Kant believed that telling a lie, even a white lie, is a violation of one's own dignity. Sandel asks students to test Kant's theory with this hypothetical case: if a friend were hiding inside your home, and a murderer came to your door and asked you where he was, would it be wrong to lie to him? This leads to a video clip of one of the most 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 society is one governed by principles we would choose if we did not know what advantages we would possess or what role in society we 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 15 & 16

Lecture 15 – 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 can't claim to deserve the talents that enable them to get ahead.  Success often depends on factors as arbitrary as birth order. Sandel makes Rawls's point when he asks the students who were first born in their family to raise their hands.

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

A Thought Experiment

A Thought Experiment: John Rawls (Lecture 15)

Inheritance Tax

Inheritance Tax: Who Deserve What? (Lecture 16)

Lectures 17 & 18

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

Lecture 18 - What's 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 example, should go to the best flute players. And the highest political offices should go 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 Good Citizen
Aristotle believes the purpose of politics is to promote and cultivate the virtue of its citizens. Thetelos or goal of the state and political community is the "good life". And those citizens who contribute most to the purpose of the community are the ones who should be most rewarded. But how do we know the purpose of a community or a practice? Aristotle's theory of justice leads to a contemporary debate about golf. Sandel describes the case of a disabled golfer who sued the PGA after it declined his request to use a golf cart.

Lecture 20 - Freedom VS. Fit
How does Aristotle address the issue of individual rights and the freedom to choose? In this lecture, Sandel addresses one of the most 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 debate whether his philosophy overly restricts the freedom of individuals.

Casey Martin and the Telos of Golf

Casey Martin and the Telos of Golf: Aristotle (Lecture 20)

Lectures 21 & 22

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

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

Justice, Community, and Membership

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

Lecture 24 – The Good Life
In his final lecture, Sandel challenges the notion that government and law should be neutral on hard moral questions. He argues that engaging, rather than avoiding, 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 Thing 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 Mill, Robert Nozick and John Rawls have rarely, if ever, been set out as 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, perhaps the most prominent college professor in America…practices the best kind of academic populism, managing to simplify John Stuart Mill and John Rawls without being simplistic. But Sandel is best at what he calls bringing 'moral clarity to the alternatives we confront as democratic citizens'…. He ends up clarifying a basic political divide -- not between left and right, but between those who recognize nothing greater than individual rights and choices, and those who affirm a 'politics of the common good,' rooted in moral beliefs that can'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 one of the most sought-after lecturers in the world." (Richard Reeves, Democracy)

  "Hard cases may make bad law, but in Michael Sandel's hands 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 we really want to live in."  (Jonathan Ree, The Observer (London))

  "Every once in a while, a book comes along of such grace, power, and wit that it enthralls us with a yearning to know what justice is.  This is such a book."  (Jeffrey Abramson, Texas Law 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 marriage, affirmative action—and forces us to confront our own assumptions, biases and lazy thought…. Sparkling commentary from the professor we all wish we had."  (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

  "Michael Sandel is…one of the world's most interesting political philosophers. Politicians and commentators tend to ask two questions of policy: will it make voters better off, and will it affect 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 by putting it at the heart of civic debate…. Sandel belongs to the tradition, dating back to ancient Greece, which sees moral philosophy as an outgrowth and refinement of civic debate. Like Aristotle, he seeks to systematize educated common sense, not to replace it with expert knowledge or abstract principles.  This accounts for one of the most striking and attractive features of Justice—its use of examples drawn from real legal and political controversies…. Sandel's insistence on the inescapably ethical character of political debate is enormously refreshing."  (Edward Skidelsky, New Statesman)

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

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

  "Reading 'Justice' by Michael Sandel is an intoxicating invitation to take apart and examine how we arrive at our notions of right and wrong….This is enlivening stuff. Sandel is not looking to win an argument; he's looking at how a citizen 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 think of ourselves as citizens, not just consumers or isolated choosers.  For him, justice demands that we ask what kind of people and society we want (or ought) to be."  (John A. Coleman, America)

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

  "Justice is Sandel at his finest: no matter what your views are, his delightful style will draw you in, and he'll then force you to rethink your assumptions and challenge you to question accepted ways of thinking. He calls us to a better way of doing politics, and a more enriching way of living our lives."  (E. 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 authentic philosophical voice…. Michael Sandel's elegantly argued book…describes what I take to be the reality of moral experience." – 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's book is exemplary.  It 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 most constructive interpretations with which to disagree…. It is the great virtue of this book, of its justness and generosity of spirit, that…one can come away from this book moved to deepen and improve the vision he criticizes." – Charles Fried, Harvard Law Review

  "This brilliantly written critique of Rawls…can be read as an important 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, confronting 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 self-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 consequence of Sandel's argument is…to reassert [the] fundamental lesson…that at the heart of all philosophy is political philosophy. – Mark Lilla, The Public Interest

  "Sandel's outstanding book is a significant and fascinating contribution…. Sandel's point about the liberal conception of the self is exciting and significant in several ways." – Richard Fentiman, Cambridge Law Journal

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

  "This clear and forceful book provides very elegant and cogent arguments against the attempt to use a certain conception of the self, a certain metaphysical view of what human 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 as the most important work of political philosophy to be written in our time.  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 called Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, which succeeded in calling into question some of Rawls's more fundamental premises." – R. Bruce Douglass, Commonwealth

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

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

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

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

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