The Lost Art of Democratic Debate

Has democratic debate lost its way? Michael Sandel says it has. He is a professor of philosophy at Harvard University and teaches one of the institution’s most popular courses, Justice. His book, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do, discusses some of the most pressing debates of our time.

Sandel approaches arguments through Aristotle’s eyes. He says, like Aristotle, that in order to take ourselves out of the shouting matches we live in today, we must get to the core of an issue by asking what purpose does a policy serve and how should we recognize it. Deep moral convinctions should not be ignored out of politeness, but rather brought up as leading arguments.

Sandel takes you through this process with examples of a Supreme Court PGA court case and same-sex marriage.

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