Justice: What is the Right Thing to Do?
SOC7-10-Mon2
Jerry Wald
This course will take place in person at 60 Turner Street. The room will be equipped with a HEPA air purifier.
March 10 - May 19
(No Class April 14)
We all find ourselves in situations where we wonder, “What is the right thing to do?” Whether this occurs in our personal lives or when assessing broader political issues, our beliefs about the nature of the “just” or “fair” course of action inform our behavior. In this course, we will prepare for class by watching Harvard professor (and Brandeis alumnus) Michael Sandel’s online lectures from his renowned Justice course and read relevant excerpts from his book. Leading theories of justice from Aristotle, John Locke, John Stuart Mill, John Rawls, Immanuel Kant, and other critical thinkers will be examined.
We will use these Harvard classroom lectures as jumping off points to cover important present-day issues including, but not limited to, wealth inequality, access to education and healthcare, affirmative action, and property rights. At the end of the course students will have developed a conceptual framework to more precisely assess the right thing to do. The goal is not to teach students what to believe, but to help them clarify and refine their own views by introducing them to canonical thinkers and ideas.
Roughly the same amount of lecture and discussion.
The Harvard videos from Professor Sandel’s Justice course are available online for free at https://scholar.harvard.edu/sandel/justice. We will also read relevant excerpts from Michael Sandel, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010). Additional material covering present-day issues that pose philosophical moral dilemmas will be made available online.
2-3 hours / week.
Jerry Wald was an attorney for 34 years in Chicago and Connecticut. In his retirement, he devotes time as a board member and treasurer of the Harry Chapin Foundation. He is also a driver for the American Cancer Society and a mentor in an English literacy program. Jerry recently published his first book, The Overexamined Life of Jacob Hart, which explores some of the topics the class will cover. He enjoys kayaking, hiking, traveling, and reading. He received his undergraduate degree in accounting from the University of Illinois and is also a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School.