Philosophy : Justice What's the Right Thing to Do
Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics | 
 | 80% Recommended by our customers.
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Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: 2009-09-15
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 Made me question a lot of things
I was assigned this book in a college ethics class and it made me think about my present situation. This is going to sound completely insane, but I'm actually 20 years older than I am now. However, one night recently I went to bed and woke up 20 years in the past in my college dorm room on Orientation Day. At first, this freaked me out, but then realized I had a real shot of correcting something that happened during that time. The day after Orientation Day my Freshman Year, I met Susie. Susie was a smart, sweet, gorgeous gal who looked like Rebecca Romijn, only with a nicer body (imagine that?). The problem was that on the night of Orientation Day, she met Frank (some jock idiot) at some fraternity party who managed to charm her before I did. Susie and I seemed to hit it off, but since Frank caught her eye the night before, I was immediately put into the friend zone. Since I was lovestruck, I accepted this deal and listened to her ups and downs for the next nearly four years, hoping to move in whenever Frank did something idiotic. Unfortunately, that never happened because Frank always knew what to say to win her back before I got my chance. She never hesitated to tell me that she wished more guys were like me, but then undercut this with "Some girl is gonna be real lucky one day when they meet you." Well, I never got a chance for Susie to be that girl because during Spring Break our Senior Year, she went to Myrtle Beach with some girlfriends and got killed in a car accident on the way down.
So back to the present ... I mean the past ... things get awfully confusing sometimes. Anyway, now I've gone back 20 years and since I remembered where her dorm was, I was able to get to Susie before Frank got to her. Since I knew all about her dreams, fears, and things that made her unique, I was able to talk to her like I knew her our whole life (which I have in a way). She responded immediately and said I was like a soul mate and we've been inseparable for the last month and a half.
My dilemma is: do I tell Susie about the Spring Break thing before we sleep together? In the last month and a half, we've progressed to third base, with her bringing me to conclusion last night with the sweetest smile on her face. While she didn't lick her fingers like she was eating the Colonel's chicken, she didn't give me that "Oh, yuck, I have to wash my hands" kind of thing like most chicks do. She just smiled sweetly in a way that said "It means so much to me to be able to please you that much." I darn near cried. Today, she coyly told me her roommate was going out of town all weekend, so this weekend is my big chance. But if I tell her I'm from the future, she's going to think I'm a freak and even if she doesn't, she's going to be so bummed, she won't be in the mood to close the deal. My next question is, if the sleeping together before talking about Senior Break is not cool, then what about oral? Lest you think I'm selfish, I'll do her before she does me. So tell me, am I a creep for wanting to take this as far as I can before the big reveal? If you think about it, I've got like three years to tell her about it. Besides, if Susie winds up like one of those two Satanic dishrags I later married and divorced, I can get rid of her pretty easily by simply suggesting "Hey, you should spend time with your girlfriends this Spring Break!" Susie is the most wonderful woman I've ever met. Tell me, what do I do?
worth thinking about
Excellent interesting essential book. Get a Harvard education for the cost of a book - Michael Sandel is a harvard professor and essentially boils down his first year course on ethics and justice into a short, easily read (okay, except for the bit on Kant, that got a bit dense!) book. Thought provoking and enjoyable and you feel smarter afterwards.
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What a better place the world would be if everybody listened to this...
Michael Sandel's "Justice" CD set is a (presumably) slightly abridged audio version of the book of the same name. This book is about Justice with a capital J - that is, the theory of what maakes for a just society. The approach is not chronological nor is it exhaustive. Instead, four basic ideas/thinkers (if my memory serves me correctly) are covered in depth: Libertarians, Utilitarians, Kant, and Aristotle. The overall pace is conversational and compelling contemporary anecdotes are interspersed to make the material fresh and relevant. And, in the end, it just works. Sandel's tone (in the 5-cd audio series) is even and plain - he discusses ideas and objections to them with a clear mind. There is no hiding behind academic language (though he does indulge in a bit of necessary jargon when discussing, say, Kant).
I particularly recommend this series to anybody who you know who holds libertarian views. Such people tend to be thoughtful, but not quite thoughtful enough, and I think Justice will do good work in nudging them beyond their ultimately incomplete views. This is a work for people who are legitimately honest and curious. Five stars all the way.
He's Famous for a Reason
This book isn't the only reason, either, because non-enrolled students reportedly stand in the hall to listen when he lectures. But for anyone who thinks philosophy cant' be a good read, start here.
Not that it tells you how to live your life, though it certainly ticks off what to think about in determining how to live a life. Anybody who's been around knows "doing the right thing" isn't easily figured in many instances. Sandel begins with realistic ethical conundrums, shows how they might be framed via utilitarian, libertarian, Kantian, Aristotelian and other analyses, and offers ways to sort them. Dry stuff, right? Wrong.
Each of these frameworks has something concrete to offer, and they are not mutually exclusive, they merely emphasise different aspects of any given situation. So if you're looking to recalibrate your right-o-meter or wrong-o-meter, pop some Justice a-la Sandel in your shopping cart.
Bill Pieper, author of the fall 2010 novel WHAT YOU WISH FOR
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