It's really nice that such a wonderful lecture is available for anyone with an internet connection.

Man, this lecture hits hard.

Although I have a degree I most certainly was never exposed to such wonderful lectures. I have now watch professors from Princeton (Physics, Mathematics), Berkely (Biology & Biochemestry), MIT (Mathematics), Harvard (Phylosophy and debates) I so wish these videos were available when I attended school. I'm convinced that someone out there is getting a top notch education strictly by watching videos.

Hey guys. Remember Michael Sandel made an entire book criticizing Rawls's theory of justice. So, the debate is not trying to indoctrinate anything as it may look like. Its get hotter because people often do not trust theories that say that they do not deserve the fruits of their efforts entirely. Sandel was simple showing Rawl's arguments over Mike.

Rawls perspective really changed the way I thought about talent and merits .. the fact that society plays a huge role in determining the distribution of opportunities and wealth based on its requirements and can be variable to a large extent.. great lecture!

Absolutely brilliant that these lectures are freely available on line - if more Universities would do the same, the world would most certainly be a better place

Sandel is surgical. Mike started out so optimistic.

23:09 I didn't know what to expect. I knew by his face he was expecting something, but my jaw DROPPED.

Incredible class. Mr. Sandel, your book on the moral limits of markets should be required reading in all economic and business degrees. I'm an economics grade student and I've recommended it to peers and professors.

Mike smiled a victory smile at 15:15, before he knew his ass would be handed to him later on :) . Especially when prof Michael Sandel had a show of hands to see who were the first born. Mike raised his hand and realized that the so called individual effort he did to get to Harvard, although commendable, was not his sole responsibility. There are innumerable factors that contribute to your success and many are not your doing. Hence solely merit base societies failed to recognize that most people don't get the same starting point of support.

The video is part of a series of lectures, it is not a debate. He is taking single theories, one at a time, and basing his answers on that theory to help the students develop their understanding. He does the same thing when discussing libertarianism, utilitarianism and such like. It is not his own opinion or bias.

John Rawls idea of whether are or not effort is worth more than social status was interesting. It gives one something to deliberate on.

The lectures are lively, freaking awesome!! When you are lost in it you forget about time. These are thought-provoking and engaging.

There was always a thought in the back of my mind that Sandel looked disturbingly familiar. I just now realized why: he looks like a younger Tywin Lannister!

Rawls ideas are appealing, but those of us who grew up in Eastern Europe have first hand experience of what that looks like in practice. Prof SandeI brushes off the concern about incentives, with kind of "it is just a technical detail" response, but if you look at human history as an experimental ground you will find evidence that doesn't match that easiness. "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" was a very often used motto in USSR, but the reality was that economy productiveness was extremely low and everyone was very poor by any reasonable standard except for bureaucratic elites. There are many other examples of failures and none of successful implementation of those principles at least to my knowledge. I would be grateful if someone named a prosperous society based on Rawls principles.

Hope your last words for all of your students will be prophetic for them to become the best of these society! Congratulations Professor! You are a fantastic teacher!

I was fortunate to have a similarly great professor, even more than one, but I have learned to appreciate what I had as I get I older. In fact I have gone back to my notes. Sandel is marvelous. What a joy this is.

The look on their faces their 'legitimate' expectations and 'efforts' slowly shatters 😅

Who else became a Rawlsian through these lectures (+Sandel's books)?

Michael Sandel is so articulate! So much hard work must be paid for that level of skill!

Perhaps the most important of this series of incredible lectures. ALL politicians and leaders should be required to know this by heart.

Prof. Sandel makes art out of this classroom, amazingly well-done from an educative standpoint...

Watching, absorbing & understanding. It takes an effort to even understand each sentence in these lectures but it is worth it.

one of the best lectures in this series. most relevant.

50:00 the faces of all... "first born" make my day. I am still studying Rawls, but it is already one of the best theories I have found. .............

This session has made me question so much of what I've believed in so far.

I many ways, I believe that what is fair is society coming together to share. Beside economics and sociocultural factors, some people are born with some physical disabilities that inhibit their abilities to progress. That is why the ultimate theory should be taking care of each other to be better off.

Even AS a consequentialist, I'm cool with this moral system because it's basically just him proposing exactly the consequentialist moral system I use but just saying that it's the one we'd all agree on if we weren't idiots.

so Michael remembers Marcus's name up front but doesn't remember Rahul's. Damn

The problem that occurs when someone makes 25 million dollars in a year is that this can be used for political power. Just living in a 25 million dollar mansion harms no one but the power that comes from this wealth empowers one to assert their political power over others.

This man has answer for every question comes in his way

The quotation we find of John Rawis at 46:46 regarding entitlement vs. worthiness mimics King Solomon's observations, which reads I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11

This lecture should be highlighted for our country right now as we try to determine a way forward out of this global pandemic. An informed public is necessary for a solid solution forward. Education system has done our country harm by politicizing our education. We would’ve benefited far more from an educated population over an egotistical consumer driven society.

A truly amazing lecture

What impresses me the most about this lecture, is how the professor has a slide for every point brought up by students. For example, the meritocracy debate. It's as if the lecturer has done this for long enough that he's seen everything the students will possibly come up with.

No Ads, Free to download, Wow Iam so Grateful! Thank you Harvard

Wow this is deep i'm loving these debates! Maybe in another life i'll hit the socioeconomic jackpot and go to Harvard

I think the core of the debate around min 20 to 24 (shortly before the break) is that we value results more than effort. If we would really be able to assess effort regardless of results equally the starting point and therefore location of the finish line wouldn''t matter anymore, still it would maybe prevent us as a society to raise to the top, so I think Rawls school of thought is persuasive also the way of distribution opens up a vast range of questions regarding justice again

I THINK THE MAJORITY WERE QUITE SHOCKED TO HEAR THAT THEY MAY NOT MERITED THEIR PLACE AT HARVARD. IT'S A TOUGH TALL FIRST TIME ROUND.

It would be awesome if I left the lecture room and my students clapped for me. Such an inspirational professor.

I find myself actually clapping at the end of this magnificent lecture.

This is my favorite so far.

Listening these lectures like our dreams come true 🙏🙏

I love 💕😊 professor Michael Sandel , for taking the bell of ignorance , his teaching is brilliant, even those who are mentally challenged, can understand his teaching, he explained so clear and simple, i wish every teacher was like him, is true that loving law helps, we all are like that , if we like the subject matter we pay attention, because we find pasión on learning, thank you 💕😊 professor Michael Sandel, you are my hero who took the bell of ignorance away from me and help me be in the real world

crying girl at 43:26 . hearing wisdom so great it makes you emotional!! lets be honest, If i was lucky enough to be in professor Sandel's lectures i would be crying too.

It such a privilege for me to sit in my house in Ireland and watch this enlightening lecture from Harvard in America.

Thanks for posting these clips and for the great summaries

What an important class is the last one.Harvard University, thank you enormously for uploading publicly formative material for all.

Talk about "the veil of ignorance", effort != production... I could try really really hard to be a professional basketball player but not be good enough for people to pay to watch. Michael Jordan is a great example since he never really had to try as hard as everyone else to get good, so he says in his biography. He played because his brother liked it, and he was better at it naturally. He admits his fortune, being 6'6" from a family all under 6' tall. It should be noted that there's a huge difference between effort and product, and I would have liked to have seen the distinction made

Excellent debates, I'm from Brazil, I'm watching to learn English.

This classes can only be possible in a materialistic society. We brainwashed ourselves to produce, produce, and produce. Merit and and effort are just some of the mental mechanisms that allow this to keep going on.

The higher favored should indeed show favor to the less favored; and he or she who is shown favor should show as much favor as possible in return

It's not about what works, it's about figuring out - what's just. And "THIS GUY" is helping YOU to understand what the greatest philosophers had come by, he never says they were right. So unless you have a better or more understandable way of exploring and explaining this material to the audience - please do, or send your CV to Harvard to apply for lecturing about justice.

É imensamente gratificante assistir a este curso da Harvard. Parabenizo esta brilhante iniciativa.

It's the best I've been seeing I learned in a lot thank you Mr. Sandra thank you

Rawls' description of markets reminds me of neural networks. Neural networks describe patterns extremely accurately, but they base a lot of outposts on factors that really shouldn't matter (e.g being born first as a factor)

9:03 Guy thinks he is only in Harvard based on merit and intelligence. Then these kind of people goes on to be part of the ruling/executive minority... sad.

this is all because people care about themselves more than other strangers.

Dear all great prof. very sweet good morning. It is clearing lecturing. Thank you very much

What a great lecture from a great man!

Luck definitely has a lot to do with success - being born in the upper quartile, first born, healthy, athletic, smart, and so on. But I would argue that its not only luck or accident that people find success. A lot of people are born with all the advantages in life and yet they do not seize the opportunities of those gifts, and there are those that didn't have great backgrounds who were able to improve their station in life by hard work and some smarts. A corollary of this deterministic view point is that criminals in prison are not responsible for their actions that led them to that situation - it's my parents fault, we were poor, I got in with the wrong crowd, my teachers didn't care, nobody helped me, so on and so forth. In a way it is in conflict with Kant's philosophy of freedom - we have the freedom to choose our morality and our principles. Those correct morals and principles when lived with consistency do have consequences that enable people to achieve their goals. There are lazy talented rich kids who squander their lives, and there are average hardworking poor kids who carve their own path to success. The capacity for self-determination and inward drive are not arbitrarily assigned, it exist within each and every one of us. It's a choice.

watching these episodes i learnt more things than in my University

I really can’t express in words how focused I am in the task asked of me, I can’t continue tell translating is satisfying

I have never felt knowledge so sweet.

Some interesting aspects, but In considering justice - Why focus on winning races? Races are, by definition, one winner. Existence isn't like that. We do all exist. There does not need to be, one winner. Existence does not need to be a competition. The very notion of "winning" is anathema to justice in this sense. We can all freely enter into various sorts of races. Many of us do so in the full knowledge that we will never "win". It is our own personal performance, our out there doing it, and our personal improvement that interests us. In a world of infinite possibility, and finite people, we can all find things that interest us, are meaningful to us. What seems most important in terms of justice is having the resources, tools, and freedom to invest our existence in whatever way we responsibly choose. We are now in an age of exponentially expanding computation and automation. We are not short of energy - there is ample sunlight for every person on the planet to have what any westerner would consider a high basic standard of living. Beyond that basic, there need be no hard limit. Certainly limits on how much energy we can use on the planet, and if we go into space, the sun has enough energy for very person to have as much as humanity as a whole currently uses. That is not a practical limit at this time. We are not short of matter. We live on a massive ball of it, and another one orbits nearby. Most people only need a few tens of tons of mass to do all they reasonable want to do. Our current economic system does not deliver that sort of justice. We have the technology to easily deliver that sort of justice. Automation allows us to produce all that most people reasonably want, with no need to involve anyone else. That sort of production was never an option in our past. Our economic system cannot deal with that sort of universal abundance. Sandel's thinking is trapped inside a market capitalist box. Markets cannot give a positive value to universal abundance. Most people strongly value universal abundance (think of air - vital to all of us, universally abundant, zero market value). Automation allows us to produce a vast set of goods and services in the same sort of abundance as air. But markets will always work against such universal abundance, as it destroys market value. Hence we see an explosion of Intellectual Property (IP) laws - that serve no real purpose other than to maintain scarcity for the masses, and thereby deliver value to the few. Markets undoubtedly had utility in an age when most things were genuinely scarce. Automation and universal abundance changes everything.

Effort - if you have a family who support you while you're unemployed you can choose to attend a university to further your occupation. Therefore, you are not starting at 0 someone help you get ahead. I call that the opportunity advantage -

None of these professors ever give up their positions to those that were less lucky than them. Got to love it

FEELING BLESSED AND HUMBLED BY THE GRACE OF ALMIGHTY GOD 🙏🙏 AND EXPRESSING HEARTFELT GRATITUDE

@xXQuebecRebelXx If you enjoy Rawls' "A Theory of Justice," I'd also recommend Amartya Sen's "The Idea of Justice," which is a good addition to Rawls work. Amartya Sen is a nobel prize economist.

"If an inequality is amoral, then a decision to rectify that inequality is also amoral..." It doesn't logically follow. Yes, inequality is amoral (neither moral or immoral). However, its precisely what the institutions of society do about it that can be moral or immoral. So while one person may be gifted, it does not follow that he is morally entitled to be a billionaire, whereas the unlucky person by the accident of birth, starves. Of society allows this, then it is being unjust, immoral.

The ultimate reality on equality!

I enjoy listing to the lectures

"It's always so attractive to do good at other people's expense." - Milton Friedman

Sandel gives the best two burrrns ever!!! Don't argue with a philosopher, lol

I am going through withdrawals. these videos keep me sane

Mr Sandel is a terrific teacher!

Please live and teach for a long time, I really would love to be your student some day

One of the things pointed out in this lecture is how about 75% of the students are first in birth order. Since he didn't clarify whether only children (children with no siblings) should raise their hand... If the students who had no siblings considered themselves to be first in birth order, than 75% is actually below the national average, not above. In other words... they aren't disproportionately made up of first children. But it depends on what the students thought was meant by "first children"

What a high level of thought. So why doesn't this video have at least 1 million in views?

Sir your justice totally change my life thanks Sir for availing your video for everyone in world

RIP Mike

My favorite argument discussed in the lecture is the gambler's argument. So many people buy lottery tickets, invest in the stock market, or otherwise engage in more or less calculated risk, that many would be quite content, from behind the veil of ignorance, to increase the "pot" at stake, even at the cost of reducing equality, so long as the worse outcome available wasn't too horrible. Rawls' strongest claim is the practical "veil of ignorance"; the moralistic disapproval of lotteries and risky gambits seems much more dubious.

this was the best lecture in this series

This lecture is the best one , hitting hard last 7 min

2018 and I wanna know where mike is now? He challenges Rawls in the first quarter of the video.

heh... I'm watching the eighth episode of this "show" today, and I realised they're all about an hour long. I've been watching these for roughly 7 hours in one sitting. cool.

thank you harvard. this is wonderful

This lecture was so helpful. It is so courteous of you that you share this valuable talks in a public domain.

Personally, I think it's natural for people to feel that having certain favourable traits which lead to success actually confers desert. It's a bit of a social darwinist position.

My problem with equal opportunity is that it's not very efficient, or at least opens the door to ineffectiveness. In our post agricultural society, intelligence and hard-work are the two important traits. Intelligence is largelly genetic, and hard-workedness... also is. Studies of attention deficit suggest that there is a genetic element to that, and that people don't generally decide to work hard or to procrastinate. Work ethics can be taught to children, but that will depend on the familly they are born to. So in a way, it is also arbitrary to reward hard work. But it is necessairy. There's only so many intelligent people, and they... have to run everything. Make every decision, view every patient, make all the software, so on. It would be inefficient to let people of lesser intelligence work these jobs, as unfair as it is, and it would be inefficient to let them study these areas only for them to become useless after having spent years getting "equal opportunity education". We need to motivate the talented with incentives: prestige, wealth, power. It's the most efficient way to run society, both for them, and for the untalented.

I watched episodes one through seven, loud claps each and every time at the end. Not so many this time around 😂 legacy admission trust fund kids must’ve been mad.

Thanks for this great series, my wife and me love it! One small point of improvement. This episode somehow is protected, and I can't view it on my tv through my mediaplayer. This is the only episode that seems to be protected.

I don't know if it's just me, but I think this is the best lecture so far of the first 8 episodes I've seen. My mind was blown! I look forward to episode 9. Question...what is it about being first born that gives people that edge, gives them that Type A personality? Is it a genetic thing, or an environmental thing, where the first born is naturally pushed harder by parents than the younger ones?

21:38 Dat Sandel lip bite

Nothing happens naturally gifted, it’s your abilities, and your capability, your knowledge, experience, philosophy, morality, and lots more , to make it huge success

The difference pinciple (and the other principles) and the original position comes from the process of reflective equlibrium. Which means a process of finding a position that respects our moral evaluations, intuitions, sense of justice and so forth.

Mike is me, before watching this.

Mike's (student) smirk at 15:09 is nauseating

Peace Love and Freedom 💜☮️💜 Mises, Hayek and Rawls forever ☮️

He is a great speaker.