Public Philosophy

In this book, Michael Sandel takes up some of the hotly contested moral and political issues of our time, including affirmative action, assisted suicide, abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, the meaning of toleration and civility, the gap between rich and poor, the role of markets, and the place of religion in public life. Sandel calls for a politics that gives greater emphasis to citizenship, community, and civic virtue, and that grapples more directly with questions of the good life. Liberals often worry that inviting moral and religious argument into the public sphere runs the risk of intolerance and coercion. These essays respond to that concern by showing that substantive moral discourse is not at odds with progressive public purposes, and that a pluralist society need not shrink from engaging the moral and religious convictions that its citizens bring to public life.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I. American Civic Life 1. America's Search for a Public Philosophy 2. Beyond Individualism: Democrats and Community 3. The Politics of Easy Virtue 4. Big Ideas 5. The Problem with Civility 6. Impeachment--Then and Now 7. Robert F. Kennedy's Promise Part II. Moral and Political Arguments 8. Against State Lotteries 9. Commercials in the Classroom 10. Branding the Public Realm 11. Sports and Civic Identity 12. History for Sale 13. The Market for Merit 14. Should We Buy the Right to Pollute? 15. Honor and Resentment 16. Arguing Affirmative Action 17. Should Victims Have a Say in Sentencing? 18. Clinton and Kant on Lying 19. Is There a Right to Assisted Suicide? 20. Embryo Ethics: The Moral Logic of Stem Cell Research 21. Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration: Abortion and Homosexuality Part III. Liberalism, Pluralism, and Community 22. Morality and the Liberal Ideal 23. The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self 24. Justice as Membership 25. The Peril of Extinction 26. Dewey's Liberalism and Ours 27. Mastery and Hubris in Judaism: What's Wrong with Playing God? 28. Political Liberalism 29. Remembering Rawls 30. The Limits of Communitarianism Notes Credits Index

Author Biography

Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Harvard University, and the author most recently of Public Philosophy (Harvard).