Last night I went to hear Michael Sandel, Harvard’s Professor of Government, speak on What’s the Right Thing to Do at Los Angeles’ public library. Sandel teaches a course on Justice that is attended by 1,000 students at a clip. It’s one of the most popular courses ever at Harvard, and he has taken it on the road in a hour lecture touting his new book, Justice, What’s the Right Thing to Do? The course is designed to make you think outside your ‘box’ and question your participation in the process (that’s my take, not his description).
It was fabulous. The lecture starts with a video where you watch Harvard students participate in his class, walk around the four hundred year old campus, and dig deep into the workings of their minds to answer questions that have no answers. The lights go on, he walks out and you are now part of that class. I had to smile at the use of media to create an environment where we all felt really smart and part of his inner Harvard circle. He had us all at hello, and it was a brilliant markeing manipulation and theater. And the liberal intellectuals, full of their own sense of smart, loved it.
But forget all that because really the message was that being part of a democracy calls for us all to be philosophers. To take Aristotle’s definition of Justice in a democracy - providing the people with what they deserve – and applying it to the issues of our moment in our own democracy. If there were flutes to give away in a democractic state, who should get them? An MBA guy who clearly had the goods and had studied Ari explained that according to A. they should go to the best flute players because the purpose of the flutes is to be played the best they can be played, ergo the best players should get them. I thought the answer should be to divide the number of flutes by the number of people who wanted them and do a time share. But, I went to the University of Nebraska and am left wing enough to believe that everyone should have a turn.
But let’s go with Ari’s point for the sake of this blog. If that’s the point, is there room for affirmative action? Should the spot at the top college go the best and the brightest, or should there be a diversity of student body to enhance the educational experience as well and provide education for all? Or, what is the meaning of marriage and should only heterosexual couples participate?
And, so on. I couldn’t help thinking that part of what everyone liked so much about the hour with the smart man was how it made you feel to be in his presence rather than new doorways of thought that he opened? He stretched the mind. But nothing he said surprised me. I just liked the way I felt listening to him.
And, I wanted to be a better citizen afterward. And, most importantly, it truly was a moment where you realize that staying home and watching Top Chef might not be quite as interesting as attending a lecture at the library whose dusty shelves no longer are part of one’s everyday life.
