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    Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
    Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
    Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
    Audiobook (abridged)15 hours

    Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?

    Written by Michael J. Sandel

    Narrated by Michael J. Sandel

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A renowned Harvard professor's brilliant, sweeping, inspiring account of the role of justice in our society--and of the moral dilemmas we face as citizens

    What are our obligations to others as people in a free society? Should government tax the rich to help the poor? Is the free market fair? Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth? Is killing sometimes morally required? Is it possible, or desirable, to legislate morality? Do individual rights and the common good conflict?

    These questions are at the core of our public life today—and at the heart of Justice, in which Michael J. Sandel shows how a surer grasp of philosophy can help us to make sense of politics, morality, and our own convictions as well.

    Sandel's legendary Justice course is one of the most popular and influential at Harvard. Up to a thousand students pack the campus theater to hear Sandel relate the big questions of political philosophy to the most vexing issues of the day. In the fall of 2009, PBS will air a series based on the course.

    Justice offers listeners the same exhilarating journey that captivates Harvard students—the challenge of thinking our way through the hard moral challenges we confront as citizens. It is a searching, lyrical exploration of the meaning of justice, an audiobook that invites readers of all political persuasions to consider familiar controversies in fresh and illuminating ways. Affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, the moral limits of markets, patriotism and dissent—Sandel shows how even the most hotly contested issues can be illuminated by reasoned moral argument.

    Justice is lively, thought-provoking, and wise—an essential new addition to the small shelf of books that speak convincingly to the big questions of our civic life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateSep 15, 2009
    ISBN9781427208170
    Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
    Author

    Michael J. Sandel

    Michael J. Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His books What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets and Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? were international best sellers and have been translated into 27 languages. Sandel’s legendary course “Justice” was the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and has been viewed by tens of millions. His BBC series “The Public Philosopher” explores the philosophical ideas lying behind the headlines with participants from around the world.

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    Reviews for Justice

    4/5

    225 ratings17 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Excellent in its own right, this book was a joy to read and an excellent study companion to the online course.
    • 4/5
      Well-written and super-accessible, this book offers a thoughtful survey of major theories of justice. It's apparently a companion to a 12-episode public television series that is also viewable on the author's website. Sandel groups major theories into three families: utilitarianism ('greatest good for the greatest number'); freedom (Kant's categorical imperative and Rawls' egalitarian starting point); and virtue (Aristotle, but also recent communitarians, of which Sandel appears to be one). If you haven't read much political philosophy, this is a great place to start. If you have, but can't recall the details, this is a great refresher. The last one and a half chapters move beyond the survey to argue, from a virtue perspective, that liberals should welcome moral (philosophical but also religious) arguments into the public sphere - that taking such arguments seriously will help reinvigorate American democracy. While I thought the book was excellent, it did leave me wanting more, in at least three areas. First, Sandel gives utilitarianism short shrift, noting that most of us do not in fact think that the 'greatest good' can justify oppression of whole classes of people, or violation of core rights, so it isn't a satisfactory explanation of what we mean by 'justice'. That's right as far as it goes, but surely a utilitarian could build a theory, influenced by pragmatism, that takes account of human cognitive limits and adds a large dose of humility, and trust in balances of power. That might yield a utilitarian theory of justice that looks quite different from, and more attractive than, Sandel's straw man. Second, the book simply doesn't discuss theological theories of justice. That's problematic, given Sandel's argument that liberals should welcome values-based arguments back into debates about justice. If you buy Sandel's claim, it's still unclear how faith-based philosophy is supposed to engage in debate with secular philosophy (or philosophies grounded in other faiths)-- where are the points of common ground, and how are they supposed to handle the occasional chasms between their worldviews?Finally, the book is essentially American, tracing approaches from European roots to 20th century American political philosophers (across the political spectrum). But, major political philosophers are also at work in other nations, and it would be nice to have some sense of how their theories compare with the Americans'. For example, Jurgen Habermas' theory of political discourse, which I understand only in the crudest outline, would seem to have strong implications for thinking about justice; but Sandel doesn't mention it at all. Of course an author has to draw the line somewhere, but a book that places American political philosophy in a global context would be a helpful complement to this one.
    • 4/5
      A politics emptied of substantive moral engagement makes for an impoverished civic life. It is also an open invitation to narrow, intolerant moralisms. Fundamentalists rush in where liberals fear to tread.Sandel builds his argument gradually, almost imperceptibly, across 220 pages before revealing his political philosophy and how it fits into the discussion of Bentham, Kant, Rawls, and Aristotle he delineates across the previous eight chapters. As an overview of major political philosophies, Justice is clear and erudite, sometimes even repetitious in its description of concepts like Rawls's "veil of ignorance" and Kant's "categorical imperative." Sandel illustrates many of the complications of particular political systems by applying them to problematic anecdotes and well-known political controversies in American society.While I have few, if any, problems with the book as an instructive and thoughtful work of political philosophy, I am still somewhat unclear as to the details and specifics of Sandel's communitarian conclusions. I think he recognizes a huge problem with current liberal political philosophy, most especially the error of ceding the moral arena to those who are religiously minded. By essentially rendering moral value to one's private life, liberals avoid engaging moral arguments in the political arena. Instead, they hold a certain indifference to the moral dispositions of the citizenry — Rawl's "veil of ignorance," for example. I found myself thinking of President Carter's "crisis of confidence" speech. I think Sandel might have appreciated Carter's urgent warning against the malaise afflicting those who've lost the "unity of purpose for our nation." Sandel similarly contends that a just society requires a strong sense of community and "must find a way to cultivate in citizens a concern for the whole, a dedication to the common good."
    • 3/5
      Trying to suss out how to understand justice and the path to a just society without reference to Marxist analysis strikes me as roughly equivalent to trying to understand the diversity of life on Earth with reference to Darwinian evolution. Aristotle, Mill, Kant, & Rawls are tremendously useful, and I don't mean to argue Marx & Engels have the only useful analysis for how to promote human flourishing, but Sandel has huge gaps and some weird underlying assumptions that spotlight where the holes in his framework are.
    • 5/5
      I wasn't sure I'd get much out of this book, since I've already listened to the series of Dr. Sandel's lectures on which it's based. But I loved that series, and figured the book would be worth a shot. I'm so glad I did. Not only was the refresher worthwhile, but the final chapter (which is almost entirely new from the course) is a really great finish.

      Sandel uses more or less the same disquisitive approach to the question of justice here that he used in the aforementioned course, and it's a good technique. It allows him to address a pretty thorny topic from a position of relative neutrality, and to proceed through some of the most significant historical thinking about it in an accessible way.

      I also appreciated the boldness of his final section, because a more typical means of wrapping up would have been to feign complete neutrality, and resist taking any kind of stand. I suppose it doesn't hurt, either, that I agree generally with the stand he does take.
    • 4/5
      Audiobook = bad idea. Sure, it is based on lectures, but I'm pretty sure the students had something in print to help them along. It takes a lot more concentration than I'm used to giving an audiobook.
    • 4/5
      An excellent overview of philosophical/ethical systems. If only I had this book earlier when I started reading philosophy, I'd have saved a lot of time. Go for the iTunes U version if you'd like!

      Starts off with a brief overview of ethical systems - utilitarianism, libertarianism, Kant's categorial imperative, Rawlsian justice, and then works through case examples - affirmative action, euthanasia, etc. Very clear and thorough arguments, for and against. If Sandel has a bias for one over the other, he hides it very well.
    • 4/5
      One of the best things about this book is that it got me thinking beyond the surface of what seems fair or good. I liked the logical examination of different philosophies of thought about what is fair or just.
    • 4/5
      Excellent questions on how we determine what is just with basic philosophical summaries. Do you follow the freedom, utilitarian or libertarian definition of justice, and how do you defend it?
    • 5/5
      This book is very strong in many ways. Brings several Mill, Kant, Rawls, and Aristotle down to understandable level. Excellent stories to illustrate abstract points. Sandel models a civility in his discourse that is absent in today's discourse. There is also a very good video series of his lectures at Harvard on You Tube.
    • 4/5
      A bit too much like a school sociology project for my liking. I suppose that one of the most frustrating things about this book is that one wishes to argue some of the conclusions that Mr Sandel draws. Sometimes, the point that one wishes to make is covered, a few pages hence but, often not (although, I freely admit this may have more to do with my perverse logic than Mr Sandel's!) The author does make some good points, and it certainly made me look at some situations in a different light, and anything that has that ability cannot be bad, just a tad frustrating!
    • 4/5
      Worthy reading, but never comes to life in the same way as the lecture series (perhaps understandable).
    • 5/5
      Excellent interesting essential book. Get a Harvard education for the cost of a book - Michael Sandel is a harvard professor and essentially boils down his first year course on ethics and justice into a short, easily read (okay, except for the bit on Kant, that got a bit dense!) book. Thought provoking and enjoyable and you feel smarter afterwards.
    • 4/5
      Sandel takes us through each of the major political perspectives and describes the pros and cons of each. He seems much less interested in changing our minds, but rather to help us explore if we really believe what we think we do... and to help us be more articulate in describing our perspectives. He does give us a glimpse into which of the many political perspectives he thinks is most beneficial in the long-term, but I suspect that individuals with many different views will still find this book a great read.
    • 3/5
      Why do we make the choices that we make? Would we have stopped and been the good samaritan? The writer is very popular and extremely dynamic and that really comes across when you watch his videos. He is a very smart man and although his points eventually come out and you learn something - the first half of the book ...is painful to read. The second half flows a lot better but you may just want to find his videos online and enjoy his thoughts that way.
    • 5/5
      A brisk overview of political and moral philosophies that really reads well and is consistently engaging. If you know your political philosophers (Mill, Locke, Kant, et al) this may be a bit redundant, but Sandel takes care to recapitulate their arguments with current day contextualization, citing examples from current politics and civil discourse. The use of current examples really brings the arguments to life.I am also grateful to this book for introducing me to the work of John Rawls, who, again, may be familiar if you've read a lot on this topic, but I had only cursory knowledge of his philosophy.In the conclusion, Sandel points the way to a more civil and just form of public discourse, that didn't really have me jumping up yelling "yeah, that'll do it!", but the journey to his conclusion is one worth taking.Great writing, great length (under 300 pages), and a great topic. Highly recommended.
    • 1/5
      Reading this book was painful. It was like taking philosophy 101. It is very superficial. I can not imagine why he wrote it. Nothing of value here.