PART ONE: THE MORAL SIDE OF MURDER If you had to choose between (1) killing one person to save the lives of five others and (2) doing nothing even though you knew that five people would die right before your eyes if you did nothing—what would you...

by Michael Sandel | 3,683,894 views

PART ONE: PUTTING A PRICE TAG ON LIFE Today, companies and governments often use Jeremy Benthams utilitarian logic under the name of cost-benefit analysis. Sandel presents some contemporary cases in which cost-benefit analysis was used to put a...

920,704 views

ART ONE: FREE TO CHOOSE Sandel introduces the libertarian conception of individual rights, according to which only a minimal state is justified. Libertarians argue that government shouldnt have the power to enact laws that 1) protect people fr...

673,990 views

PART ONE: THIS LAND IS MY LAND The philosopher John Locke believes that individuals have certain rights so fundamental that no government can ever take them away. These rights—to life, liberty and property—were given to us as human beings in th...

486,900 views

PART ONE: HIRED GUNS During the Civil War, men drafted into war had the option of hiring substitutes to fight in their place. Professor Sandel asks students whether they consider this policy just. Many do not, arguing that it is unfair to allow...

by Professor Sandel | 239,399 views

PART ONE: MIND YOUR MOTIVE Professor Sandel introduces Immanuel Kant, a challenging but influential philosopher. Kant rejects utilitarianism. He argues that each of us has certain fundamental duties and rights that take precedence over maximizi...

by Professor Sandel | 259,917 views

PART ONE: A LESSON IN LYING Immanuel Kants stringent theory of morality allows for no exceptions. Kant believed that telling a lie, even a white lie, is a violation of ones own dignity. Professor Sandel asks students to test Kants theory with th...

by Professor Sandel | 197,903 views

ART ONE: WHATS A FAIR START? Is it just to tax the rich to help the poor? John Rawls says we should answer this question by asking what principles you would choose to govern the distribution of income and wealth if you did not know who you were, ...

by Professor Sandel | 185,886 views

PART ONE: ARGUING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION PART TWO: WHAT'S THE PURPOSE? Part 1 Sandel describes the 1996 court case of a white woman named Cheryl Hopwood who was denied admission to a Texas law school, even though she had higher grades and test scor...

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PART ONE: THE GOOD CITIZEN Aristotle believes the purpose of politics is to promote and cultivate the virtue of its citizens. The telos or goal of the state and political community is the good life. And those citizens who contribute most to the p...

130,407 views

PART ONE: THE CLAIMS OF COMMUNITY Professor Sandel presents Kants objections to Aristotles theory. Kant believes politics must respect individual freedom. People must always respect other peoples freedom to make their own choices—a universal duty...

by Professor Sandel | 123,657 views

PART ONE: DEBATING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE If principles of justice depend on the moral or intrinsic worth of the ends that rights serve, how should we deal with the fact that people hold different ideas and conceptions of what is good? Students addres...

by Professor Sandel | 204,686 views

Should parents be able to "design" their children based on genetic preferences? What are the dangers of turning children into commodities and childbearing into an extension of the consumer society? From a lecture at the Centre of Contemporary Cul...

by Michael Sandel | 15,314 views

Is it always right to sacrifice one life to save five? Is morality always about numbers? An excerpt of Sandel's Harvard Justice lecture, with animation added by Soy Camara (Centre of Contemporary Culture of Barcelona).

by Michael Sandel | 10,017 views

Should celebrities and sports stars be paid more than service workers? Is fair pay determined by supply and demand? In this excerpt from the BBC program "Fairness and the Big Society," Sandel uses the pay of a famous soccer star to explore the me...

25,113 views

Is torture ever justified? What if innocent lives are at stake? This excerpt from the BBC documentary "Justice: A Citizen's Guide to the 21st Century" examines the debate between Kantians and utilitarians on human dignity.

42,561 views

Should this generation of Germans take responsibility for addressing the evils perpetrated by their grandparents' generation during the Holocaust? Should this generation of Americans take responsibility for remedying the injustice of slavery? Th...

by Michael Sandel | 12,656 views

Michael Sandel leads a video-linked global classroom, broadcast on NHK television (Japan) with students in Tokyo, Shanghai, and at Harvard. Sandel and the students discuss the ethical and global implications of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and nu...

by Michael Sandel | 21,661 views