Justice ~ by Michael J. Sandel

Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? ~ by Michael J. Sandel, 2009

What are our obligations to others as people in a free society?  Is it sometimes wrong to tell the truth?  Is it possible, or desirable, to legislate morality? Is killing sometimes morally required?  Do individual rights and the common good conflict?  Should government tax the rich to help the poor?  Is the free market fair?  Michael J. Sandel’s “Justice” course is one of the most popular and influential at Harvard.

"Justice" is one of the most popular courses in Harvard’s history.  Harvard has opened its classroom to the world.  Professor Michael 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, torture, stealing a drug that your child needs to survive.  Notice that each of these twelve classes has two topics, which we'll discuss separately.

Harvard class videos
Harvard assigned readings
About the author

Harvard faculty page
Wikipedia

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1a ~ The Moral Side of Murder
1b ~ The Case for Cannibalism
2a ~ Putting a Price Tag on Life
2b ~ How to Measure Pleasure
3a ~ Free to Choose
3b ~ Who Owns Me?
4a ~ This Land is my Land
4b ~ Consenting Adults
5a ~ Hired Guns?
5b ~ Motherhood: For Sale
6a ~ Mind Your Motive
6b ~ The Supreme Principle of Morality
7a ~ A Lesson in Lying
7b ~ A Deal is a Deal
8a ~ What's a Fair Start?
8b ~ What Do We Deserve?
9a ~ Arguing Affirmative Action
9b ~ What's the Purpose?
10a ~ The Good Citizen
10b ~ Freedom vs. Fit
11a ~ The Claims of Community
11b ~ Where Our Loyalty Lies
12a ~ Debating Same-sex Marriage
12b ~ The Good Life



You are welcome to watch Harvard's video, do the readings they provide (not all episodes have related readings), and come here to see what's being said.  You can answer earlier questions as well as the current one.

Here's your first question:   Does morality interest you enough that you'll join us in exploring the ideas?  (Answer this one in the comments below.)

FB ~ final quote and book question

Prepared by Mary/Zorro

Catalina Trail at Butterfly Family Fun Day at the Bullock Museum. She was featured on the cover of the August 1976 National Geographic after the discovery of the monarch butterflies migration retreat in Mexico.  She said, "I am the only living member of the team who discovered the Monarch Butterfly overwintering sanctuaries in Mexico in 1975."

Mary says, "I can't find the source of this quote":

"The novel is structured in a way that makes the reader realize that all the things we do without considering the future have grave consequences — from the personal (smoking, sex) to the global (climate change).    We may realize it's human nature to make a mistake and stay the course in much smaller ways (such as Dellarobia's unplanned pregnancy and unhappy marriage).

"This theme makes the flood at the end a very fitting way to end the novel. It's easy to see how we've failed to correct our path towards climate change when all the small changes Dellarobia made in her life won't matter unless we make the most important changes with respect to the environment."

In a comment (below), she asks, "What do you all think about the book as a whole?"

FB ~ themes

Prepared by Mary/Zorro

Flight Behavior interweaves important themes:  religion and science, poverty and wealth, education and instinct or faith, intolerance and acceptance.   How are these themes used to complement each other, and how do they conflict?

FB ~ stereotypes, social issues, the media

Prepared by Mary/Zorro

For Dellarobia...

"Nobody truly decided for themselves, there was too much information.  What they actually did was scope around, decide who was looking out for their clan, and sign on for the memos on a wide array of topics."

Do you agree that this is a fair assessment of a divided America?  How can we get beyond our judgments and stereotypes?

How is media both a help and a hindrance in our understanding of social issues?  How does it offer clarity and how does it add confusion?  How is the media portrayed in Flight Behavior?  What impact does it have on Dellarobia and the fate of the butterflies?  People are envious that the media pays attention to Dellarobia, yet she says being interviewed was like "having her skin peeled off."  Why are so many people consumed by a desire for fame?

FB ~ climate change, science, and religion

Prepared by Mary/Zorro

Flight Behavior illuminates the conflicting attitudes of different classes towards nature and the idea of climate change.  

How does each side see this issue?  Where do they find common ground?  Do you believe in global warming or climate change?  Explain the basis of your beliefs.  How much do you know about both the proponents and opponents in this debate?

Why do so many Americans fear or dislike science?  Why do so many others fear or dislike religion?  What impact do these attitudes have on the nation now and what do they portend for our future?

FB ~ Dellarobia's options

Prepared by Mary/Zorro

After Dellarobia's parents died, what options did she have?  She wanted to go to school — and did try — she tells Ovid,

"People who hadn't been through it would think it was that simple:  just get back on the bus, ride to the next stop.  He would have no inkling of the great slog of effort that tied up people like her in the day to day.  Or the quaking misgivings that infected every step forward, after a loss.  Even now, dread still struck her down sometimes if she found herself counting on things being fine.  Meaning her now-living children and their future, those things.  She had so much more to lose now than just herself or her own plans."

What are the factors that hold back people in Dellarobia's circumstances?  How can they be overcome?  How is each character's ideas about the future colored by his or her circumstances?

FB ~ Education

Prepared by Mary/Zorro

"Kids in Feathertown wouldn't know college-bound from a hole in the ground.  They don't need it for life around here.  College is kind of irrelevant."

Why isn't college important to these people?  Should it be?  Would you say the people of Feathertown respect education?

Why is faith and instinct enough for some people?

When she explained this to Ovid,

"His eyes went wide, as if she'd mentioned they boiled local children alive.   His shock gave her a strange satisfaction she could not have explained.  Insider status, maybe."

Explain her attitude. Yet Dellarobia also believes that "educated people had powers."  What does she mean by this?  How does education empower people?  Can it also blind them?