Michael Joseph Sandel (; born March 5, 1953) is an American political philosopher and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard Law School, where his course Justice was the university's first course to be made freely available online and on television. It has been viewed by tens of millions of people around the world, including in China, where Sandel was named the 2011's "most influential foreign figure of the year" (China Newsweek). He is also known for his critique of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice in his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2002.

Early life and education
Sandel was born in 1953 into a Jewish family, which moved to Los Angeles when he was thirteen. He was president of his senior class at Palisades High School and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brandeis University with a bachelor's degree in politics in 1975. He received his doctorate from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1985, as a Rhodes Scholar, where he studied under philosopher Charles Taylor.

Philosophical views
Sandel subscribes to a certain version of communitarianism (although he is uncomfortable with the label), and in this vein he is perhaps best known for his critique of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. Rawls's argument depends on the assumption of the veil of ignorance, which Sandel argues commits Rawls to a view of people as "unencumbered selves". Sandel's view is that we are by nature encumbered to an extent that makes it impossible even hypothetically to have such a veil. Some examples of such ties are those with our families, which we do not make by conscious choice but are born with, already attached. Because they are not consciously acquired, it is impossible to separate oneself from such ties.  Sandel believes that only a less-restrictive, looser version of the veil of ignorance should be postulated. Criticism such as Sandel's inspired Rawls to subsequently argue that his theory of justice was not a "metaphysical" theory but a "political" one, a basis on which an overriding consensus could be formed among individuals and groups with many different moral and political views.

Teaching

Justice
Sandel joined the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University in 1981. He has taught the Justice course at Harvard University for two decades. More than 15,000 students have taken the course, making it one of the most highly attended in Harvard's history. The fall 2007 class was the largest ever at Harvard, with a total of 1,115 students. The fall 2005 course was recorded, and is offered online for students through the Harvard Extension School.

An abridged form of this recording is now a 12-episode TV series, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?, in a co-production of WGBH and Harvard University. Episodes are available on the Justice with Michael Sandel website. There is also an accompanying book, Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? and the sourcebook of readings Justice: A Reader.

The popularity of the show is attributed to the discussion-oriented format (the Socratic method)—rather than recitation and memorization of facts—and to Sandel's engaging style, incorporating context into discussion; for example, he starts one lecture with a discussion of the ethics of ticket scalping.

The BBC broadcast eight 30-minute segments from the series on BBC Four starting on 25 January 2011.

In April 2012, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a three-part series and later podcast presented by Sandel titled The Public Philosopher. These followed a format similar to the Justice lectures, this time recorded in front of an audience at the London School of Economics. Across three programs, Sandel debates with the audience whether universities should give preference to students from poorer backgrounds, whether a nurse should be paid more than a banker, and whether it is right to bribe people to be healthy.

edX 
Sandel is currently teaching his Justice course on edX.
On April 29, 2013, the philosophy department faculty of San Jose State University addressed an open letter to Sandel protesting the use of MOOCs (massively open online courses) such as his Justice course. Sandel publicly responded: "The worry that the widespread use of online courses will damage departments in public universities facing budgetary pressures is a legitimate concern that deserves serious debate, at edX and throughout higher education. The last thing I want is for my online lectures to be used to undermine faculty colleagues at other institutions."

Other teaching 
Sandel also co-teaches, with Douglas Melton, the seminar "Ethics and Biotechnology", which considers the ethical implications of a variety of biotechnological procedures and possibilities.

Authorship
Sandel is the author of several publications, including Democracy's Discontent and Public Philosophy. Public Philosophy is a collection of his own previously published essays examining the role of morality and justice in American political life. He offers a commentary on the roles of moral values and civic community in the American electoral process—a much-debated aspect of the 2004 US election cycle and of current political discussion.

Sandel gave the 2009 Reith Lectures on "A New Citizenship" on BBC Radio, addressing the "prospect for a new politics of the common good". The lectures were delivered in London on May 18, Oxford on May 21, Newcastle upon Tyne on May 26, and Washington, DC, in early June, 2009.

He is also the author of the book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (2012), which argues some desirable things—such as body organs and the right to kill endangered species—should not be traded for cash.  In the book, Sandel argues that stimulating a market-oriented approach in people may lead to relaxation or even corruption of their moral values.

Citing Michael Young's work as a precedent (he coined the term "meritocracy"), and developing a line of thought shared with Daniel Markovits's The Meritocracy Trap, Michael Sandel in his 2020 book The Tyranny of Merit makes a case for overhauling western neo-liberalism.  Elite institutions including the Ivy League and Wall Street have corrupted our virtue, according to Sandel, and our sense of who deserves power.    Ongoing stalled social mobility and increasing inequality are laying bare the crass delusion of the American Dream, and the promise "you can make it if you want and try". The latter, according to Sandel, is the main culprit of the anger and frustration which brought some Western countries towards populism.

Personal life

Sandel is married to fellow Harvard professor Kiku Adatto.

Public service
Sandel served on the George W. Bush administration's President's Council on Bioethics.

Awards and honors

1985: Harvard-Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize
2012: Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, shortlist, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
2012: Foreign Policy magazine Top Global Thinker
2014: Honorary doctorate, Utrecht University
2018: Premio Princesa de Asturias de las Ciencias Sociales

Works

 
 
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 Translated into Chinese, German, Spanish, French, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Vietnamese editions; see the article on the book for the full citations.
 
 German translation: 
 French translation:  
 Also translated into Spanish and other languages.

See also

American philosophy
List of American philosophers

References

External links

 Harvard University Bio
 Michael Sandel: On the Good Life on Berggruen Institute's YouTube channel
 Podcast interview with Nigel Warburton on Philosophy Bites on What Shouldn't Be Sold
 "The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering, by Michael J. Sandel (2007)" by N. Antonios at the Embryo Project Encyclopedia
 Podcast interview with Nigel Warburton on Ethics Bites on the topic of Genetic Enhancement in Sports
 The President's Council on Bioethics
 A page of links relating to the 2009 Reith Lectures
 What's The Right Thing To Do? on Harvard University's YouTube channel
 Fairness and the Big Society Debate on BBC
 Justice: a series of lectures by Michael Sandel on BBC
 
 
 Talk and Q&A on "Populism, Trump and the Future of Democracy" held at The American Academy in Berlin, April 2018
 "Michael Sandel, philosopher", Desert Island Discs, BBC Radioo 4, October 2021.

21st-century American philosophers
Jewish philosophers
American political philosophers
American Rhodes Scholars
Harvard University Department of Philosophy faculty
Harvard University faculty
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Brandeis University alumni
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
20th-century American Jews
1953 births
Living people
Harvard Extension School faculty
20th-century American philosophers
21st-century American Jews
마이클 샌델(, 1953년 3월 5일 ~ )은 미국의 정치철학자이다. 그는 온라인 수강이 가능한 하버드 교육 강의 'Justice'로 익히 알려진 바 있으며, 존 롤스(John Rawls)의 정의론(A Theory of Justice)’을 비판한 ‘자유주의와 정의의 한계(Liberalism and the Limits of Justice)’(1982년)를 발표하면서 세계적인 명성을 얻었다. 오늘날 대표적인 공동체주의자, 공화주의자이며 자유주의에 대한 비판가로 유명하다. 현재 그의 저서를 통해 공동체주의적 공화주의라는 새로운 정치 이론을 표방하고 있다. 그는 현재 미국 예술 및 과학 아카데미(the American Academy of Arts and Sciences)의 특별 연구원으로 선출되어 활동하고 있으며, 미국 하버드 대학 교수로 재임 중이다.

경력

공부 
미국 미네소타주의 최대의 도시인 미니애폴리스에서 유태인 집안의 첫 번째 아들로 태어났다.
1975년에 파이·베타·카파의 회원으로 브랜다이스 대학교를 졸업하고, 로즈 장학금으로 영국 옥스퍼드 대학교 베일리얼 칼리지에서 찰스 테일러의 지도를 받으며 박사 학위를 얻었다.

사상

철학적 관점 
존 롤스의 《정의론》을 정면으로 비판하면서 명성을 얻은 그는, 자유주의자들의 개인에 대한 추상적 이해는 본래의 인간성과는 거리가 먼 왜곡된 인식이라고 말한다. 사회적 연대와 시민적 덕목을 강조하는 공동체주의를 주장한다.

강의 
하버드 대학에서 "Justice"라는 과목을 20여 년간 맡고 있으며 만여 명이 넘는 학생들이 수강해 하버드 역사상 가장 많은 학생들이 들은 강좌 중 하나로 손꼽히고 있다. 2007년 가을 학기에는 1,115명의 학생이 수강하였고, Harvard Extension School 을 통해 온라인으로도 제공되었다. 현재 하버드 로스쿨에서 "Ethics, Economics and the Law"라는 세미나 과목도 지도하고 있다.

한국강연 
2005년에는 대한민국을 방문하여 한국철학회의 주최로 열린 다산기념 철학 강좌에서 '시장의 도덕적 한계', '자유주의와 무연고적 자아' 등의 강연을 한 바 있다. 그는 강연에서 "돈으로 살 수 없는 것과 살 수 있는 것"이 철학적으로 구분된다. 시장논리가 확장되어가고 있는 오늘날에도, 돈으로 살 수 없는 것이 존재하며 이러한 가치들에까지 시장논리가 침범해서는 안 된다"고 역설했다.
2010년에는 아산정책연구원에서 샌델 교수를 초청, 서울 경희대학교 평화의전당에서 공개 강연을 열었다.
마이클 샌델 교수가 한국을 방문한 이유 중에 하나는 그가 출간한 '정의란 무엇인가'가 두 달만에 25만부의 판매고를 기록하면서 사회적인 반향을 일으킨 것에 기인하는데 특히 주요 독자가 40대였다. 국내 도서 관련 업체에서는 "특히 쉽게 쏠림현상이 나타나지 않는 전통적인 40대 인문독자의 관심을 끌만큼 사회적인 반향을 일으켰다"고 전했다.

정의란 무엇인가? 
2009년작인 《정의란 무엇인가》가 2010년 대한민국에 번역되어 인문학 서적으로는 베스트셀러 1위를 차지하여 화제가 되었다. KBS의 책읽는밤에서는 샌델의 이 책을 다루면서 2010년 대한민국에서 왜 다시 정의가 논의되고 있는지에 대한 배경과 책의 의미에 관해 패널들이 토론을 나눴다. 2011년 4월, 대한민국 판매량 100만부를 돌파했다. 1990년대 이후로 인문학 서적의 판매량이 꾸준히 줄었으며, 교양인문학 서적으로는 이례적인 일이다. 영미권에서는 10만부 이하로 저조한 판매량을 보였으나, 유독 일본과(60만부) 대한민국에서 많이 팔렸다. 정의를 판단하는 세가지 기준으로는 행복, 자유, 미덕을 들 수 있다. 즉, 정의가 사회 구성원의 행복에 도움을 줄 수 있는지, 혹은 사회 구성원 각각의 자유로움을 보장할 수 있는지, 아니면 사회에 좋은 영향으로 끼쳐야 하는지로 정의로움을 결정할 수 있다. 시장경제 체제에서 각각의 판단방식은 그 장점과 단점이 존재한다. 책은 일상 생활에서 발생하는 각종 사례와 역사적인 철학가들의 가르침을 통해 각각의 정의로움에 대한 판단을 보여준다. 마지막으로 공동체주의를 정의와 연결한다.

저서 

그가 출판한 저서는 다음과 같다.

 《자유주의와 정의의 한계》(Liberalism and the Limits of Justice) - 1982년 작
 《민주주의의 불만》(Democracy's Discontent) - 1996년 작
 《공공 철학》 (Public Philosophy) - 2005년 작
 《완벽함에 대한 반론》 (The Case Against Perfection) - 2007년 작
 《정의란 무엇인가》(Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?) - 2009년 작 
 《왜 도덕인가》 
 《생명의 윤리를 말하다》 
 《공동체주의와 공공성》 
 《돈으로 살 수 없는 것들》 - 2012년 작
 《공정하다는 착각》 - 2020년 작

 다른 언어
 마이클 J. 샌델, Plädoyer gegen die Perfektion (German), Berlin University Press, (1, 1, 2008), 
 마이클 J. 샌델 and Maria Luz Melon, El Liberalismo y los Limites de la Justicia (Filosofia del Derecho) (Spanish), Gedisa Editorial, (11, 2000), 
 마이클 J. 샌델, これからの「正義」の話をしよう――いまを生き延びるための哲学''(Japanese),早川書房, (5, 5, 2010), ; translation of "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?", Farrar, Straus and Giroux, (9, 15, 2009)

각주

외부 링크 
 
 하버드 대학교 소개

20세기 철학자
미국의 정치철학자
1953년 출생
살아있는 사람
하버드 대학교 교수
21세기 철학자
브랜다이스 대학교 동문
옥스퍼드 대학교 베일리얼 칼리지 동문
로즈 장학생
유대계 미국인
도덕철학자