Michael Sandel
Michael Sandel
Michael J. Sandelis an American political philosopher and a professor at Harvard University. He is best known for the Harvard course "Justice" and for his critique of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice in his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth5 March 1953
CountryUnited States of America
school kids effort
Some parents expend great efforts to get their kids into the right nursery school or the right preschool, with the thought that that will set them on the path to success, to competitive success especially.
good-life children want
What I really want for my children is that they be loved and that they be happy and that they lead a good life.
exercise thinking medicine
There are really exercises in a kind of consumerist ethic that I think don't have the same moral weight as medicine or health.
exercise confusing dominion
Human beings are empowered to exercise dominion over nature and even to be participants in creation; and yet, at the same time, there are strictures against idolatry, which is a kind of overreaching and confusing human beings' role with God's.
religious views jewish-tradition
There are some religious traditions that view human beings as participants in creation. This is true of the Jewish tradition, from which I come.
sex thinking practice
I would include non-medical sex selection as one of those practices that I think is morally questionable and that can carry adverse social consequences.
girl sex attitude
In some parts of the world, that sex selection for boys - and it's usually for boys - reflects sex discrimination against girls, and it leads to very large imbalances - in China, in Korea, in India - in the population between boys and girls, a vast disproportion of boys to girls, and it reflects really this discriminatory attitude toward girls.
religious thinking cells
I'm a supporter of embryonic stem cell research. I do think there are very important moral and also religious questions at stake in the debate over embryonic stem cell research.
thinking medicine desire
I think it would be a great tragedy to devote medical resources and genetic technological breakthroughs to purposes that are not to do with health or medicine, but instead are to do with satisfying the desires that are created by the consumer society.
race arms height
One can imagine a kind of hormonal arms race or genetic arms race, whether it's to do with height or IQ, conceivably, in the future. So it's limitless, and that's another of the features that sets it apart from medical intervention.
kids giving goal
Aiming at giving our kids a competitive edge in a consumer society - that, in principle, is a goal that is limitless.
goal important restoration
Aiming at health, restoring health - that is a goal that is both morally important and limited, because it aims at the restoration of normal human functioning, which is an important part of human flourishing.
mean thinking medicine
I do not argue that nature is sacrosanct in the sense that we must never tamper with nature. That would disempower, really, all of medicine. That would mean that we can't combat dread diseases - malaria, polio, all of which are given by nature, if one thinks about it.
medicine suffering disease
The relief of suffering is a great good. The curing of illness and disease - these are great human goods. This is the mission of medicine.