"Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?"

Yesterday's New York Times includes an article (click here) about a series of lectures by Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel called "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?" The lectures will be shown on public television stations across the country and are available through Boston station WGBH's website (click here). They are based on a "wildly popular" course that Prof. Sandel has taught for almost 30 years. A new book accompanies the broadcasts, for which "[e]ach 50-minute class was edited down to 30 minutes; two are shown in each television episode." The article quotes Prof. Sandel, “'[i]n a way, the book and the course try to model what public discourse would be like if it were more morally ambitious than it is. . . . The title is ‘Justice,’ but in a way its subject is citizenship.' Mr. Sandel emphasizes that 'the aim is not to try to persuade students, but to equip them to become politically minded citizens.'”

At this writing, the show isn't listed on the WOSU website (click here).

Tags: Ethics, Moral philosophy