Harvard Justice Course with professor Michael Sandel
Oct 13th,2009
About Michael SandelMichael Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard, where he has taught political philosophy since 1980. His books include Democracy’s Discontent, Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics, The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, and, most recently, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? His writings have been translated into eleven foreign languages and have appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, and the New York Times.
First I wanted to name this article “What you loose if you’re not a student at Harvard University”. Though it could be a right title because they have truly some of the greatest teachers in the world, I’ve decided to name it “to the point”.
This is a twelve part series in which Sandel challenges us with difficult moral dilemmas and asks our opinion about the right thing to do. He then asks us to examine our answers in the light of new scenarios. The results are often surprising, revealing that important moral questions are never black and white.
This course also addresses the hot topics of our day – affirmative action, same-sex marriage, patriotism and rights – and Sandel shows us that we can revisit familiar controversies with a fresh perspective.
Visual Things will show you once per week an episode of the Justice Course by Michael Sandel along with the invitation to comment and debate the issues presented.
What’s the right thing to do?
The Moral Side of Murder
If you had to choose between (1) killing one person to save the lives of five others and (2) doing nothing, even though you knew that five people would die right before your eyes if you did nothing – what would you do? What would be the right thing to do? That’s the hypothetical scenario Professor Michael Sandel uses to launch his course on moral reasoning.
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.
