Justice
by Michael J. Sandel · first published 2007
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Accessible introduction to moral and political philosophy covering utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and questions of fairness and desert; useful for grounding debates about equality and what people deserve.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Michael Sandel offers a searching, lyrical exploration of the meaning of justice that considers familiar controversies such as affirmative action, same-sex marriage, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, national service, patriotism and dissent, and the moral limits of markets in fresh and illuminating ways.
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I think this book did a pretty good job for me of justifying equality from a philosophical perspective: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Justice-Whats-Right-Thing-Do/dp/0141...
on “Why People Hate the Google Bus” ↗…rights. 2. Measuring happiness is a trivialization of human experience (ex. How many people would need to be given an iPhone in order to justify the torturing an assassination of a child?). Try reading Justice by Michael Sandel if you want to learn more.
The upside of irrationality. Ariely Germs guns and steel. Jared Diamond Influence, the psychology of persuasion. Cialdini Justice: what's the right thing to do. Sandel QED. Fyenman All of Feynman lectures on physics The hard thing about hard things. Horowitz Al muqqadimah. Ibn khaldun
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗…Utilitarianism promotes decisions that benefits the greatest number of people. Whereas, kantianism focuses on the idea that people should be always treated with dignity and respect. Michael Sandel's book "Justice" is a great introduction to the topic. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Justice-Whats-Right-Thing-Do/dp/03745...
on “There’s No Such Thing As ‘Ethical A.I.’?” ↗…preferentially admit minorities to advance its mission of increasing minoirty representation in politics. Or it might want to correct for the testing gap, or compensate for past wrongs. Sandel's book "Justice" opened my eyes a little bit to thinking more about "who deserves what" in a variety of social issues.
on “Nobel Prize: We will not have gender or ethnicity quotas – top scientist” ↗It really does apply, but maybe not always for obvious reasons. I really would encourage everyone to watch Michael Sandel's political philosophy lectures (titled "Justice") at Harvard University. It's available on Youtube.
on “Absurd Trolley Problems” ↗The Harvard Justice series (Michael Sandel) is one of the best ones I've seen. Very intriguing! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30C13C91CFFEFEA6
on “Ask HN: What's the best lecture series you've ever seen?” ↗I'm giving this an upvote. There isn't enough philosophy thrown around here. My thoughts: I recently read a chapter in Michael Sandel's, "Justice" where-in he gives an account of the categorical imperative described by Kant; by the end of the chapter I was having a kind of, "secular mystical experience" where I realized, "the value of everyone…
on “Existence Is Evidence of Immortality” ↗This topic is explored in Michael Sandel's book Justice[1]. IIRC his conclusion is that we are products of our environment and as such we owe a debt to the environment that helped create us: university, school, parents and not least of all the society that…
on “How do people justify earning more than others?” ↗I based that statement on what I saw in Michael Sandel's HarvardX (edX partner) Justice course. There's a lot of thought experiments and hypothetical situations premises are tested against to see if they still hold to be moral; really interesting.
on “Yale censored a student's course catalog site. I made an unblockable replacement” ↗…rhetoric and debate. Humans are creative enough to see alternative options that obviate the dilemma, at least to some extent. See Michael Sandel on moral dilemma. Edit: FYI, Sandel's complete course "Justice" is on Youtube.[1] [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY
on “Moral Machine” ↗…https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/wealth.html - John Rawls on the Veil of Ignorance and the original position https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_position - Prof. Michael Sandel (Harvard) on Justice: What's the Right Thing to do? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY&list=PL30C13C91C... - Prof. Robert Reich's course on Wealth and Poverty (former US Sec of Labor) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f2blKai7HA&list=PLOLArO56vj...…
on “I am rich and have no idea what to do” ↗