Michael J. Sandel (born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for the Harvard course ‘Justice’, which is available to view online, and for his critique of John Rawls‘ A Theory of Justice in his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982).
The video below would help a UPSC aspirant in dealing with the paper on Ethics and Integrity which is there in the syllabus for Main examination.
Episode 07
Part 1 – A LESSON IN LYING
Immanuel Kant believed that telling a lie, even a white lie, is a violation of one’s own dignity. Professor Sandel asks students to test Kant’s theory with this hypothetical case: if your friend were hiding inside your home, and a person intent on killing your friend came to your door and asked you where he was, would it be wrong to tell a lie? This leads to a video clip of one of the most famous, recent examples of dodging the truth: President Clinton talking about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
Part 2 – A DEAL IS A DEAL
Sandel introduces the modern philosopher, John Rawls, who argues that a fair set of principles would be those principles we would all agree to if we had to choose rules for our society and no one had any unfair bargaining power. (Harvard Website)
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