Michael J. Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he has taught political philosophy since 1980. He is the author of[…]
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Sandel makes his students dig deep.
Question: What do you do?
Michael Sandel: The way I would describe what I do is I teach political philosophy. And what that really amounts to is inviting students to reflect critically on their own moral and political convictions; to figure out what they believe and why; and to do that in the company of some of the great philosophers of the past. So I invite students to read some of the famous works of political philosophy, but with an eye to contemporary challenges and dilemmas. And above all, with an eye to sorting out . . . Students very, very much wanted to sort out their own moral and religious convictions … their own take on the world. That’s really what I do.
Recorded on: 6/12/07
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