Harvard Prof who specializes in justice speaks with bob graham about differing opinions in a democracy ....

[VILLANUEVA,JOSHUA A]

Prof. Michael Sandel will do two events next Tuesday (March 22) for
the Graham Center. Prof. Sandel teaches one of the most popular
courses at Harvard for undergraduates called Justice. To see what he
does so well go to his website at http://www.justiceharvard.org/
Sandel has lectured widely throughout North America, Europe and Asia
on topics such as democracy, liberalism, bioethics, globalization and
justice. He has delivered prize-winning lectures at Oxford University
and the Sorbonne, where he was a visiting professor. He has served on
the President's Council on Bioethics and is a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

The British Guardian newspaper called Sandel "one of the world's most
interesting political philosophers. Politicians and commentators tend
to ask two questions of policy: will it make voters better off, and
will it affect their liberty? Sandel rightly points out the
shallowness of that debate and adds a third criterion: how will it
affect the common good?

Sandel does this not by citing dry tomes and largely unread moral
philosophers, but by news stories. He is well known for being
intensely engaged with the most pressing issues in domestic and
foreign affairs as well as in economics and education.

The driving idea behind his work, Sandel says, "is to invite students,
and in the case of the book, readers, to reflect critically on their
own moral and political assumptions to figure out what they believe
and why."

1) From 4:00-5:00 pm he will do a special presentation for students
in our Reading Room in Pugh Hall (2nd floor) with Senator Bob Graham.
They will talk about the "Lost Art of Democratic Argument: Can We
Reason Together About Values Without Rancor and Incivility?" No RSVP
necessary, just show up.


2) At 6:00 pm he will be doing an interactive presentation in the
Ocora entitled, "Doing the Right Thing in Public and Private Life."