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Watch Justice: What s The Right Thing to Do Online

Lundi, avril 12th, 2010

Watch Justice: What s The Right Thing to Do Online.

Movie Title: Justice: What s The Right Thing to Do
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Justice: What s The Right Thing to Do is available for streaming or downloading.

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Two immediate impressions from this 12-hour/part PBS series: (1) Harvard students receive superior instruction; and (2) the students, who signed agreements to be televised, were extraordinary. In some sense, their participation almost makes this a “reality TV series.”

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Philosophy Professor Michael Sandel uses the Socratic Method and Direct Instruction. He explores moral topics by asking students questions, drilling down and introducing additional information along the way. Students gave genuine, thoughtful responses. To capture this entire teaching unit on camera, using many cameras for multiple angles, was brilliant. Of course, one must adjust their expectations of student engagement by the presence of the cameras.

The teaching methods used are probably not ideal for many subjects, but for philosophy they were dynamic in the extreme. Surely Sandel has set the bar high for philosophy professors. This can only be good.

Buy,Download, Or Stream Justice: What s The Right Thing to Do! Click Here

The moral questions he poses are not so simple and easy as one might expect. One tends to change their mind as Sandel brings in more facts. All the questions posed and respective responses elicited are traced to philosophical schools of thought and directly to famous dead philosophers most of us would recognize. In this way, the history of philosophical thought is brought to life. This is a fun way to learn and this DVD set may be watched again and again.

We learn how much we share values and moral principles with the body of philosophical knowledge accumulated throughout human history. Sandel points out the origin of philosophical thought processes along this lecture journey. This feels like a painless way to learn philosophy, and it makes it much easier to remember the contributions of the great and famous philosophers (to cite some of them: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Kiereguaard, Mill, Nietzsche, James, Russell, Wittgenstein and Rawls).

Sandel contrasts ancient theories of justice, concerned with virtue, with modern theories concerned with freedom. During this lecture series he demonstrates that we share beliefs about virtue. Further, he explains we mistakenly don’t apply our convictions about virtue to economics and politics. He wants moral reflection to be a public endeavor and philosophers to advocate for the citizenry as Socrates did.

The implications of Sandel’s teachings are far-reaching, immediate and tangible. There are applications in contract law. For example, our society holds sacrosanct the “legal contract” but in so many cases one side was not truly free. In many instances, one party to a contract holds power and can impose a one-sided contract. Another application has to do with CEO compensation. Sandel shows how CEO compensation is determined by power, not contribution. He discusses the extreme concentration of wealth in the U.S. Sandel wants philosophy to be used on economics and he asserts that the growing inequality in the U.S. undermines the solidarity that a democracy requires.

Finally, Sandel makes us aware of the hollowing out of the “public realm” on which a democratic society depends. As public services decline and our common spaces for all but wealthy Americans deteriorate, we undermine our shared democratic citizenship.

Common spaces accessible by our democracy include public transportation, parks, schools, hospitals and health clinics, libraries, the news media and more. Much of public life has become overly market-based and that is the main reason we lack pedestrian-friendly areas.

To be sure, Professor Sandel is just getting started with this 12-hour DVD series. One gets the impression he is now launching a more public career and will weigh in on many political and economic issues. I would not be surprised if he becomes vilified in the media for taking positions against the interests of the power elite.

I saw the series mentioned on the Charlie Rose Show and was instantly arguing with the examples. I ordered the series, fired it up, and was battling with Michael Sandel in almost every example.

That level of challenge in a PBS series is rare lately. In the 80s and early 90s PBS carried complex, challenging, programs that are no longer made today.

An interesting note, watching the series I was instantly aware of how the TV series LOST echoes the themes, conflicts, and historical characters discussed in Justice. I suspect that someone on the LOST writers team took this course.

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