# Justice [Introduction: "Justice with Michael Sandel"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fajlZMdPkKE) ![Justice Introduction](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__960x960_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs0.jpg?itok=51wqq9t4) [Lectures 1 & 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fajlZMdPkKE) ![sandel-screengrabs1](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs1.jpg?itok=bU7gyV7M) **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 [Lectures 3 & 4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O2Rq4HJBxw) ![sandel-screengrabs14](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs14.jpg?itok=EBK8INSM) **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 Opera & Dogfights Embed [Lectures 5 & 6](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw4l1w0rkjs) ![sandel-screengrabs3](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs3.jpg?itok=osuF-x3r) **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 Sports Money & Taxes [Lectures 7 & 8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGyygiXMzRk) ![sandel-screengrabs15](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs15.jpg?itok=Pfyug8jF) **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 [Lectures 9 & 10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yT4RZy1t3s) ![sandel-screengrabs5](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs5.jpg?itok=vGqCmbp0) **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 Surrogacy: Market & Morals [Lectures 11 & 12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rv-4aUbZxQ) ![sandel-screengrabs6](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs6.jpg?itok=UZV3cD3E) **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 Kant and Human Dignity: The Case of Torture [Lectures 13 & 14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqzW0eHzDSQ) ![sandel-screengrabs7](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs7.jpg?itok=PEm3zpsX) **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 David Hume & the Contractor [Lectures 15 & 16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcL66zx_6No) ![sandel-screengrabs9](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs9.jpg?itok=PgOzgjz8) **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 Inheritance Tax [Lectures 17 & 18](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUhReMT5uqA) ![sandel-screengrabs8](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs8.jpg?itok=uVYFaIY2) **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 The Violin [Lectures 19 & 20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuiazbyOSqQ) ![sandel-screengrabs12](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs12.jpg?itok=C8UwHUhq) **Lecture 19 - The Good Citizen** Aristotle believes the purpose of politics is to promote and cultivate the virtue of its citizens. The *telos* 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 [Lectures 21 & 22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOotE9_OGGs) ![sandel-screengrabs10](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs10.jpg?itok=Zca-SKOB) **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 Honesty vs. Loyalty? Collective Responsibility? [Lectures 23 & 24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzD9P-9sj4M) ![sandel-screengrabs13](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/sandel/files/sandel-screengrabs13.jpg?itok=Q4mJu7cS) **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 ### Readings Download 3 citations download- [BibTeX](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=bibtex) - [EndNote X3 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=endnote8) - [EndNote 7 XML](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=endnote7) - [Endnote tagged](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=tagged) - [Marc](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=marc) - [PubMedId](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=pubmed_id) - [RIS](/bibcite/export?pager_style=no_pager&number_of_items=3&sort_field=bibcite_year--desc&&content_filter%5B0%5D=443211&content_filter%5B1%5D=443221&content_filter%5B2%5D=444106&&format=ris) ### 2009 Sandel Michael J. 2009. [Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?](/publications/justice-whats-right-thing-do). Farrar, Straus and Giroux Sandel Michael J. 2009. [Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?](/publications/justice-whats-right-thing-do). Farrar, Straus and Giroux - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [Buy on IndieBound](https://bookshop.org/p/books/justice-what-s-the-right-thing-to-do-michael-j-sandel/9510255?ean=9780374532505&next=t&source=IndieBound) - [Buy on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Michael-J-Sandel-audiobook/dp/B002P9T82A/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=rMuwV&content-id=amzn1.sym.0fb2cce1-1ca4-439a-844b-8ad0b1fb77f7&pf_rd_p=0fb2cce1-1ca4-439a-844b-8ad0b1fb77f7&pf_rd_r=141-0066567-2658710&pd_rd_wg=pfz3F&pd_rd_r=19959134-98cc-4134-a498-674b639d0aeb&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk) "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."... - [Buy on IndieBound](https://bookshop.org/p/books/justice-what-s-the-right-thing-to-do-michael-j-sandel/9510255?ean=9780374532505&next=t&source=IndieBound) - [Buy on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Michael-J-Sandel-audiobook/dp/B002P9T82A/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=rMuwV&content-id=amzn1.sym.0fb2cce1-1ca4-439a-844b-8ad0b1fb77f7&pf_rd_p=0fb2cce1-1ca4-439a-844b-8ad0b1fb77f7&pf_rd_r=141-0066567-2658710&pd_rd_wg=pfz3F&pd_rd_r=19959134-98cc-4134-a498-674b639d0aeb&ref_=aufs_ap_sc_dsk) ### 1982 Sandel Michael J. 1982. [Liberalism and the Limits of Justice](/publications/liberalism-and-limits-justice). ( 2nd Edition 1998) . Cambridge University Press Sandel Michael J. 1982. [Liberalism and the Limits of Justice](/publications/liberalism-and-limits-justice). ( 2nd Edition 1998) . Cambridge University Press - add\_circle do\_not\_disturb\_on Abstract - [Buy on IndieBound](https://bookshop.org/p/books/liberalism-and-the-limits-of-justice-michael-j-sandel/6553724?ean=9780521567411&next=t&source=IndieBound) - [Buy on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Liberalism-Limits-Justice-Michael-Sandel/dp/0521567416) “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... - [Buy on IndieBound](https://bookshop.org/p/books/liberalism-and-the-limits-of-justice-michael-j-sandel/6553724?ean=9780521567411&next=t&source=IndieBound) - [Buy on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Liberalism-Limits-Justice-Michael-Sandel/dp/0521567416) ### 1994 Sandel Michael J. 1994. “[Political Liberalism](/publications/political-liberalism)”. Harvard Law Review Sandel Michael J. 1994. “[Political Liberalism](/publications/political-liberalism)”. Harvard Law Review - [ picture\_as\_pdfPolitical Liberalism](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/sandel/files/political_liberalism.pdf) - [ picture\_as\_pdfPolitical Liberalism](/sites/g/files/omnuum7526/files/sandel/files/political_liberalism.pdf)