Public Philosophy

Essays on Morality in Politics

Michael J. Sandel

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2006
• Print ISBN:
  9780674023659
  9780674019287
• eBook ISBN:
  9780674744028
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Political 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. He argues that the most prominent ideals in our political life--individual rights and freedom of choice--do not by themselves provide an adequate ethic for a democratic society. 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.

INDEX

Abolitionist movement, 4, 227, 229, 242–243

Abortion, 1–2, 4, 9, 38, 42, 47–48, 68, 114, 147, 275n29; and liberal toleration, 122–125, 130–131, 133–135, 141, 144; and political liberalism, 225–226, 228, 230, 241, 243, 245

Abraham, 197, 204

Adam, 197, 209

Addams, Jane, 13–14, 31, 184, 250

Addiction, 71–72

Advertising, 233; in schools, 67, 73–76; for lotteries, 70–71; branding for government agencies, 77–80

Affirmative action, 4, 68, 99, 101–104, 232

African Americans, 41, 63, 99, 102, 230. See also Civil rights movement

Agrarian way of life, 11–12, 24

Akiva ben Joseph, 196, 202

Alexander, Lamar, 56

Allegiance. See Loyalty

Anthropology, religious, 199–201, 203–206

Arendt, Hannah, 155, 180

Aristotle, 24, 34, 152, 154, 158, 196, 198, 214, 254

Army, U.S., 38

Assisted suicide, 4, 68, 113–116

Association, freedom of, 249

Athens, ancient, 154

Autonomy, 13, 32, 34, 114–116, 124–125, 130–131, 133–134, 136–137, 141–142, 160–161

Baltimore Colts, 83

Baseball, 73, 81, 84

Basketball, 81

Beatles, 87–88

Beer, Samuel, 170

Bennett, William, 47, 56–57

Bentham, Jeremy, 211

Bible, 2, 110, 112, 196–197

Bioengineering, 200–205, 207–208, 210

Bioethics, 68, 117–121

Blackmun, Harry A., 132, 137–138, 144

Blair, Tony, 77–78

Blumenauer,...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• I AMERICAN CIVIC LIFE
• II MORAL AND POLITICAL ARGUMENTS
• III LIBERALISM, PLURALISM, AND COMMUNITY
• Notes
• Credits
• Index