Justice

tv show

poster for Justice

12 total episodes

-

1 seasons

First Aired September 13, 2009

Overview

Justice is the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and on public television. In this 12-part series, college professor Michael Sandel challenges us with hard moral dilemmas and invites us to ponder the right thing to do—in politics and in our everyday lives.

tv poster

Arguing Affirmative Action/What's The Purpose?

Season 1 - Episode 9 - 1h 30m

Air Date

November 08, 2009

Overview

Students discuss the pros and cons of affirmative action. Should we try to correct for inequality in educational backgrounds by taking race into consideration? Should we compensate for historical injustices such as slavery and segregation? Is the argument in favor of promoting diversity a valid one? How does it size up against the argument that a student’s efforts and achievements should carry more weight than factors that are out of his or her control and therefore arbitrary? When a university’s stated mission is to increase diversity, is it a violation of rights to deny a white person admission? Sandel introduces Aristotle and his theory of justice. He believes that justice is about giving people their due, what they deserve.