Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? [Paperback]

The first thing to say about this book is just how readable it is. Although 'justice' is a subject that interests us all from the point when, as children, we first said 'but it's not fair', too often it can be a dry and academic subject with no immediate apparent relevance to 'real life'. Not so this book.

Sandel takes us on a tour of theories of justice in roughly chronological order. Starting with Jeremy Bentham and Utilitarianism, Sandel clearly explains the principles involved and then provides a critique. Moving on, he outlines John Stuart Mill's attempts at refining and expanding Bentham's 'simple' Utilitarianism with more emphasis on the individual. Next, Sandel gives a concise description and critique of Libertarians, mentioning Robert Nozick as a contemporary example.

From there, Sandel moves to a philosopher who rejected Bentham, Mills and Libertarianism - namely Immanuel Kant. Sandel's explanation of Kant's 'categorical imperative' and the autonomous individual is the clearest and most understandable that I have ever come across - explaining the difference between, for example, the Golden Rule (treat others as you would be treated) and Kant's non-contingent principles. Sandel then moves on to John Rawls and illustrates the continuities between Kant and Rawls. Rawls' idea of a 'hypothetical agreement in an original position of equality' clearly has Kantian echoes. But again Sandel provides stimulating criticisms of these positions.

Finally, Sandel moves on to Aristotle. After admitting that Aristotle's ideas of justice have been largely rejected for a couple of millennia, Sandel takes the crucial Aristotelian concept of 'telos' and suggests that justice, far from being 'a priori' or autonomous (in a Kantian or Rawlsian sense), has a purpose or goal. Rawls' critics (of which Sandel admits to being one):

"...rejected the claim for the priority of the right over the good, and argued that we can't reason about justice by abstracting from our aims and attachments". (P220).

Such critics became known as 'Communitarians' - a name and a group of ideas much taken up by politicians not so long ago. However, Sandel then goes on to point to the 'relativistic' problems of Communitarianism (sounding rather post-modernist perhaps!):

'Most of the critics were uneasy with this label [Communitarian], for it seemed to suggest the relativist view that justice is simply whatever a particular community defines it to be. But this worry raises an important point: Communal embraces can be oppressive. Liberal freedom developed as an antidote to political theories that consigned persons to destinies fixed by caste or class...So how is it possible to acknowledge the moral weight of community while still giving scope to human freedom?' (P221).

Sandel's answer is to look to After Virtue by Alasdair MacIntyre. MacIntyre reconstitutes the human actor as a 'storytelling being'; as Sandel says 'We live our lives as narrative quests'. And, of course, this fits in with Aristotles' idea of 'telos':

'All lived narratives, MacIntyre observes, have a certain teleological character'. (P221).

Sandel goes on to expand these ideas in a series of 'real-life' examples ('Family Obligations', 'French Resistance', 'Rescuing Ethiopian Jews'). To me, that is one of the major strengths of this book - however academic the language seems to get, Sandel always and continually grounds the philosophical musings in real, actual, historical examples.

The examples are brought fully up-to-date in the final chapter 'Justice and the Common Good'. Contrasting John F Kennedy's position on the 'religious issue' (pretty much the same as Alistair Campbell's 'We don't do god') with Barack Obama's overt engagement in religiously based moral arguments (Obama is quoted here as saying 'The discomfort of some progressives with any hint of religion has often prevented us from effectively addressing issues in moral terms' (P245)), Sandel goes on to recast 'The Abortion and Stem Cell Debates' (P251) and the 'Same Sex Marriages' argument (P253) in refreshingly forthright and imaginative ways.

I really enjoyed this book. It got me thinking. And in a world as fast-changing and dangerous as ours, it is a subject that needs thinking about.

I first heard the author, Michael Sandel on a podcast talking about economic and social ethics. His approach is simple: present the different theories and let you decide for yourself.

This book challenges the way you think about everything! From economics and torture of terrorists, to your everyday life issues. It enhances your emotional and ethical intelligences. It's easy to read and it helps you understand why some politicians and political parties believe in what they do, but also equips you with the framework to challenge these perceptions intelligently.

I dont know how to sell this book to you...but all I can say is it has added to my life by giving me the intellectual framework to assess our world and forced me to make an ethical choice which I struggle to maintain every day (in a good self-growth way).

Perhaps look up Michael Sandel, hear one of his Harvard Lectures and then if you like what you hear, then buy the book.

Michael Sandel has dedicated his life to moral philosophy and deciding what is the right thing to do. He is an incredibly talented lecturer, seeming to be able to explain even the most complicated subjects in a way that is easy to comprehend.

He has managed to do the same with this book. He presents moral dilemmas with clear examples and follows them with proposed answers from famous philosophers such as Kant, Rawls and Aristotle (don't worry if you currently don't know much about these people, I didn't when I first started reading either).

This being said, it is incredibly easy to read. I have been reading this alongside books requires for my law course and it compliments them very well and is often a welcome break!

I would strongly recommend it to those with little knowledge in the area but with some interest. It will very quickly have you pausing your reading to try and form your own arguments and opinions on the moral dilemmas he presents you with.

So if you want thought provoking ideas, insight from a life devoted to moral philosophy and perhaps even if it's just you want a 'little bit more' from your holiday book then this is the book for you.

Enjoy,

~Joseph-J