Michael Sandel

For the British artist, see Michael Sandle.

Michael Sandel

Michael Sandel
Born	(1953-03-05) March 5, 1953 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Era	21st-century philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Communitarianism
Main interests	Political philosophy Legal philosophy Moral philosophy
Influenced by Locke · Kant · Mill · Rawls · Taylor · Walzer
Influenced Precht · Ed Miliband

Michael J. Sandel (born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for the Harvard course 'Justice', which is available to view online, and for his critique of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice in his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002.

Education

Born in Minneapolis to a Jewish family, which moved to Los Angeles when he was thirteen. A high achiever, he was the President of his senior class at Palisades High School (1971), graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University (1975), and received his doctorate from Balliol College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied under philosopher Charles Taylor.

Philosophical views

Sandel subscribes to a certain version of communitarianism (although he is uncomfortable with the label), and in this vein he is perhaps best known for his critique of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. Rawls' argument depends on the assumption of the veil of ignorance, which he claims allows us to become "unencumbered selves".

Sandel's view is that we are by nature encumbered to an extent that makes it impossible even in the hypothetical to have such a veil. Some examples of such ties are the those with our families, which we do not make by conscious choice but are born with, already attached. Because they are not consciously acquired, is it impossible to separate oneself from such ties. Sandel believes that only a less-restrictive, looser version of the veil of ignorance should be postulated. Criticism such as Sandel's inspired Rawls to subsequently argue that his theory of justice was not a "metaphysical" theory but a "political" one, a basis on which an overriding consensus could be formed among individuals and groups with many different moral and political views.

Teaching

Justice

Sandel has taught the famous "Justice" course at Harvard for two decades. More than 15,000 students have taken the course, making it one of the most highly attended in Harvard's history. The fall 2007 class was the largest ever at Harvard, with a total of 1,115 students. The fall 2005 course was recorded, and is offered online for students through the Harvard Extension School.

An abridged form of this recording is now a 12-episode TV series, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, in a co-production of WGBH and Harvard University. Episodes are available on the Justice with Michael Sandel website. There is also an accompanying book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, and the sourcebook of readings Justice: A Reader.

The popularity of the show is attributed to the discussion-oriented format (the Socratic method)—rather than recitation and memorization of facts—and to Sandel's engaging style, incorporating context into discussion; for example, he starts one lecture with a discussion of the ethics of ticket scalping.

The BBC broadcast eight 30-minute segments from the series on BBC Four starting on 25 January 2011.

In April 2012, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a three-part series presented by Professor Sandel titled The Public Philosopher. These followed a format similar to the Justice lectures, this time recorded in front of an audience at the London School of Economics. Across three programs, Sandel debates with the audience whether universities should give preference to students from poorer backgrounds, whether a nurse should be paid more than a banker, and whether it is right to bribe people to be healthy. The programmes were made available for download via the BBC podcast Michael Sandel: The Public Philosopher.

edX

Prof. Sandel is currently teaching his Justice course on edX.[1]

Other teaching

Sandel also co-teaches, with Douglas Melton, the seminar "Ethics and Biotechnology", which considers the ethical implications of a variety of biotechnological procedures and possibilities.

Authorship

Sandel is the author of multiple publications, including Democracy's Discontent and Public Philosophy. His Public Philosophy is a collection of his own previously published essays, examining the role of morality and justice in American political life. He offers commentary on the roles of moral values and civic community in the American electoral process –- a much-debated aspect of the 2004 U.S. election cycle and of current political discussion.

Michael Sandel gave the 2009 Reith Lectures on "A New Citizenship" on BBC Radio, addressing the 'prospect for a new politics of the common good'. The lectures were delivered in London on May 18, Oxford on May 21, Newcastle on May 26, and Washington, D.C., in early June.

Public service

Sandel served on the George W. Bush administration's President's Council on Bioethics. He is also the author of the book "What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets".

2009 immigration commentary

In 2009, Sandel criticized Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker's market immigration proposal. This proposed solution entailed imposing refugee quotas on nations according to their wealth and then allowing countries to pay other, poorer countries to take refugees allotted under their quota. Sandel concludes that "a market in refugees changes our view of who refugees are and how they should be treated. It encourages the participants — the buyers, the sellers and also those whose asylum is being haggled over — to think of refugees as burdens to be unloaded or as revenue sources rather than as human beings in peril."

Awards and honors

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• 2012 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, shortlist, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits Of Markets
• 2012 Foreign Policy magazine Top Global Thinker.

Works

• Michael J. Sandel, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (April 24, 2012), ISBN 978-0-374-20303-0
• Michael J. Sandel, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (September 15, 2009), ISBN 978-0-374-18065-2
• Michael J. Sandel, Justice: A Reader, Oxford University Press, (September 27, 2007), ISBN 978-0-19-533512-5
• Michael J. Sandel, The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, (January 31, 2007); paperback (September 30, 2009), ISBN 978-0-674-03638-3
• Michael J. Sandel, Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics, Harvard University Press (October 31, 2006), ISBN 978-0-674-02365-9
• Michael J. Sandel, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, Cambridge University Press, (March 28, 1998), ISBN 978-0-521-56741-1
• Michael J. Sandel, Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (February 6, 1998), ISBN 978-0-674-19745-9

Other languages

• Michael J. Sandel, Was man für Geld nicht kaufen kann (German), Berlin (Ullstein), 9 Nov 2012, ISBN 978-3550080265
• Michael J. Sandel, Plädoyer gegen die Perfektion (German), Berlin University Press, (January 1, 2008), ISBN 978-3-940432-14-8
• Michael J. Sandel and Maria Luz Melon, El Liberalismo y los Limites de la Justicia (Filosofia del Derecho) (Spanish), Gedisa Editorial, (November 2000), ISBN 978-84-7432-706-9
• Michael J. Sandel, これからの「正義」の話をしよう――いまを生き延びるための哲学(Japanese),早川書房, (May 5, 2010), ISBN 978-4-15-209131-4; translation of "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (September 15, 2009)
• Michael J. Sandel, "정의란 무엇인가", 서울: 김영사, (Korean) (May 17, 2010), ISBN 978-89-349-3960-3; translation of "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (September 15, 2009)
• Michael J. Sandel, 正義：一場思辨之旅 (Traditional Chinese),雅言文化, (March 1, 2011), ISBN 978-986-82712-6-5; translation of "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (September 15, 2009)
• Michael J. Sandel, 公正：该如何做是好？ (Simplified Chinese),中信出版社, (June, 2011), ISBN 978-7-5086-2755-7; translation of "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (September 15, 2009)

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers

External links

• Harvard University Bio
• Podcast interview with Nigel Warburton on Philosophy Bites on What Shouldn't Be Sold
• Podcast interview with Nigel Warburton on Ethics Bites on the topic of Genetic Enhancement in Sports
• The President's Council on Bioethics
• A page of links relating to the 2009 Reith Lectures
• : What's The Right Thing To Do? on Harvard University's YouTube channel
• Fairness and the Big Society Debate on BBC
• Justice: a series of lectures by Michael Sandel on BBC
• 12 Questions with Michael Sandel: An Art of Theory Interview
• Booknotes interview with Sandel on Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy, May 19, 1996.