1.5. Efficiency and Justice - Readings

Required Reading:

• Sandel, 2009, “Justice” Lectures 5 (Free to Choose) and 14 (A Deal is a Deal)

These are lectures from Michael Sandel’s Justice class at Harvard, one of the most popular courses. Due to the way these videos are cut, I encourage (but don’t require) you to watch part of the lecture immediately following each lecture mentioned above (e.g. lectures 6 and 15) as it continues the relevant discussions.

Recommended Reading:

You may wish to glance at some of the Wikipedia pages on the two major books from which themes and opposing perspectives we discuss come from:

• Wikipedia: “Anarchy, State, and Utopia”
• Wikipedia: “A Theory of Justice”

Tips and Questions to Read for:

The videos cover a lot of ground on different political philosophies and their consequences, but our main points we want to focus on is Rawls vs. Nozick on “social/distributive justice.”

• What is social/distributive justice? How might we define it?

• Do you agree more with Nozick or Rawls?

• Where are there points of tension and/or agreement between the two positions?

• Is/how can coercive redistribution (be) just(ified)?

• Is/how can (in)equality (be) just(ified)?

• How do Nozick and Rawls each answer the question: what makes a distribution just or unjust?

• What is the best way to provide for those least well off?