I finally finished watching all the video lectures of the famous Harvard lecture about political philosophy called Justice on 23 March. In 24 lectures, each about 25 minutes, Professor Michael Sandel discusses a straightforward question: What’s the right thing to do?
His class is not at all like any ordinary philosophy lectures, which are probably either dull or mysterious. Instead, Prof. Sandel will bring up lots of vivid examples to force you to think about general moral principles. It is a Socratic-questioning-style class, which is my favorite form of lecture. You can watch all the video lectures in its official website. For people who are more comfortable with Chinese, you can find these videos in Bilibili, though I should warn you the translation of the subscript is not perfect. I recently notice that this course has its edX version and video transcripts are available in Chinese. I will definitely go through this edX version in the future.
Edx provides a nice introduction of this course, I simply copy and paste everything here below.
About this course
Taught by lauded Harvard professor Michael Sandel, Justice explores critical analysis of classical and contemporary theories of justice, including discussion of present-day applications. Topics include affirmative action, income distribution, same-sex marriage, the role of markets, debates about rights (human rights and property rights), arguments for and against equality, dilemmas of loyalty in public and private life. The course invites learners to subject their own views on these controversies to critical examination.
The principal readings for the course are texts by Aristotle, John Locke, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, and John Rawls. Other assigned readings include writings by contemporary philosophers, court cases, and articles about political controversies that raise philosophical questions.
What you'll learn
- The fundamentals of political philosophy
- An understanding of social justice and criminal justice, and the roles they play in the modern justice system
- A deeper sense of the philosophy that underlies modern issues such as affirmative action, same sex marriage, and equality
- The ability to better articulate and evaluate philosophical arguments and ask philosophical questions
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