Philosophy
Episode 10. Aristotle's teleological understanding of the universe made him think of social and political institutions in terms of goals and purposes. If you understand the telos of a particular institution or practice, then you would also understand the appropriate means to ensure the excellence of said practice. Politics, for Aristotle, was the art concerned with the promotion of virtue and citizenship, and so a just society is one in which those who contribute most to the goals of the community are to be rewarded best.
Now, you might be asking yourself a very sensible question: how do we know the telos of some particular practice? Professor Sandel tries to make sense of this approach to considerations of justice by entertaining the case of Casey Martin, a disabled golfer who sued the PGA after it declined his request to use a golf cart on their tour. His case raises the question of the essential nature of golf and its purpose. Here's my take on it, and Professor Sandel seems to agree. Sorry golfers :)
Now, we all tend to think that freedom, justice and equality are worthwhile goals. The problem, however, is that to a large extent these concepts are inversely proportional to each other: that is to say, the more you have of one, the less you'll probably get of the others. Aristotle's approach to justice is no exception. If a just and prosperous society requires that individuals be assigned goals appropriate to their natural abilities, what room is there for personal choice and freedom? Worse still, if some people are naturally predisposed to slavery, as Aristotle thought, is there some way of rescuing the Aristotelian framework without having to accept slavery as a just practice?
Episode list: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
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- Human Nature And Political Legitimacy
From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. In The Republic, Plato declared that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings, since...
- Michael Sandel - Philosophy And The Lost Art Of Democratic Debate
In our modern world of social liberalism and libertarianism, we tend to think that questions of policy should be procedural rather than substantive: government should restrict itself to the protection of individual rights and the arbitration of conflict,...
- Justice - What Is The Right Thing To Do?
Episode 12. When we, post-colonial citizens of liberal democracies in the 21st century, deliberate about principles of justice and the distribution of rights, we tend to think that respect for the plurality of competing conceptions of the good requires...
- Justice - What Is The Right Thing To Do?
Episode 11. The moral battle between Aristotle and Kant can be traced back to the question of community welfare versus individual rights. Aristotle believes that justice requires that we establish a satisfactory conception of the good and create political...
- The Mark Steel Lectures - Aristotle
Perhaps no other philosopher has been as influential or original as the ancient philosopher Aristotle, and only the greatest have been as productive and consistent in their entire world view. It's one thing to have opinions about particular subjects...
Philosophy
Justice - What Is the Right Thing to Do?
Episode 10. Aristotle's teleological understanding of the universe made him think of social and political institutions in terms of goals and purposes. If you understand the telos of a particular institution or practice, then you would also understand the appropriate means to ensure the excellence of said practice. Politics, for Aristotle, was the art concerned with the promotion of virtue and citizenship, and so a just society is one in which those who contribute most to the goals of the community are to be rewarded best.Now, you might be asking yourself a very sensible question: how do we know the telos of some particular practice? Professor Sandel tries to make sense of this approach to considerations of justice by entertaining the case of Casey Martin, a disabled golfer who sued the PGA after it declined his request to use a golf cart on their tour. His case raises the question of the essential nature of golf and its purpose. Here's my take on it, and Professor Sandel seems to agree. Sorry golfers :)Now, we all tend to think that freedom, justice and equality are worthwhile goals. The problem, however, is that to a large extent these concepts are inversely proportional to each other: that is to say, the more you have of one, the less you'll probably get of the others. Aristotle's approach to justice is no exception. If a just and prosperous society requires that individuals be assigned goals appropriate to their natural abilities, what room is there for personal choice and freedom? Worse still, if some people are naturally predisposed to slavery, as Aristotle thought, is there some way of rescuing the Aristotelian framework without having to accept slavery as a just practice?
Episode list: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
.
- Human Nature And Political Legitimacy
From ancient times, and well beyond them, the roots of justification for political authority were inescapably tied to outlooks on human nature. In The Republic, Plato declared that the ideal society would be run by a council of philosopher-kings, since...
- Michael Sandel - Philosophy And The Lost Art Of Democratic Debate
In our modern world of social liberalism and libertarianism, we tend to think that questions of policy should be procedural rather than substantive: government should restrict itself to the protection of individual rights and the arbitration of conflict,...
- Justice - What Is The Right Thing To Do?
Episode 12. When we, post-colonial citizens of liberal democracies in the 21st century, deliberate about principles of justice and the distribution of rights, we tend to think that respect for the plurality of competing conceptions of the good requires...
- Justice - What Is The Right Thing To Do?
Episode 11. The moral battle between Aristotle and Kant can be traced back to the question of community welfare versus individual rights. Aristotle believes that justice requires that we establish a satisfactory conception of the good and create political...
- The Mark Steel Lectures - Aristotle
Perhaps no other philosopher has been as influential or original as the ancient philosopher Aristotle, and only the greatest have been as productive and consistent in their entire world view. It's one thing to have opinions about particular subjects...