25 Discussion Questions for Justice by Michael Sandel (With Analysis) | Chapterly Blog
Michael Sandel's Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? is one of the most accessible and engaging introductions to political philosophy ever written, and these Justice discussion questions are designed to help you grapple with the real moral dilemmas Sandel uses to illuminate competing theories of justice. Whether you are reading this for a book club, an ethics course, a law school seminar, or personal reflection, these questions will push you to examine your own moral intuitions and test them against rigorous philosophical frameworks. Published in 2009, based on Sandel's legendary Harvard course "Justice" (the most popular course in the university's history), the book walks readers through the major traditions in political philosophy — utilitarianism, libertarianism, Kantian ethics, and Aristotelian virtue ethics — using real-world dilemmas that force you to choose between them. Sandel does not hide his own views (he favors a communitarian approach emphasizing the common good), but he presents each tradition with enough sympathy to make every position feel compelling. These 25 questions are organized by theme. Justice Discussion Questions: Utilitarianism Sandel begins with utilitarianism because it is the ethical framework most people implicitly rely on without realizing it. These questions target the seductive simplicity of the...