In this course, Michael Sandel speaks about philosopher Immanuel Kant and challenges Harvard students with difficult moral dilemmas and asks opinions about the right thing to do. He then asks everyone to examine our answers in the light of new scenarios. The results are often surprising, revealing that important moral questions are never black and white.
Watch it on Academic Earth
Tell me if you notice something odd at 6:50 in…
I didn’t notice anything odd. What did you see? A ghost?
Its nice to see the webbed menace taking in seminars
Hahahahahahahahahaha… Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a spider can.
Spins a web, any size.
Catches thieves- just like flies.
Look out! Here comes the Spiderman
I think maybe it was that there is a Spiderman looking costumed person in the audience.
Spider Man !!
The only thing I noticed at 6:50 was too many students trying to keep up by writing with pen and paper. Guess they haven’t figured out it’s so much faster to keep up on a laptop…
Great video share, Jason. Thanks!
Stay safe out there.
The guy bottom right starts yawning.
Sorry Mo,I couldn’t take 10 minutes of this lad.It
put me to sleep.Maybe I’m just a Country-Bumpkin’.
These students are just wasting time listening to
that academic drivel.Live life man.
Mark G
I think it extends way beyond academics buddy. But I hear ya. Different strokes.
This guy Sandel, reminds me of the character “Data” from Star Trek: Next Generation.
I’m not ‘persuaded’ by Kant’s account. I think it’s over intellectualized and mind dominated. It makes the conversation difficult to know how to act upon.
In christian circles, they made it real simple. When faced with a moral dillemna, a christian would ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?”.
In buddhist tradition, one might ask, “What would Love do now?”
If we can side aside our romantic ideas about what “Love” does, we might interpret that to mean, “What would be in the highest good?” or perhaps, “What would serve the good of all?”.
I believe that each individual will come to a different answer to these questions based on their level of awareness AND… who it is they want to become.
If reason, is the determining factor here, wouldn’t a person’s level of awareness, paradigms, or even conditioning affect their reasoning facility? How then, by using reason, would all people come to the same conclusion?… thereby defining a categorical “supreme law”?
I would also assert that everything we do is self serving. Even when what we do is for the highest good, even if that choice is painful for us, the choice was still in service of the self… As a way choosing or defining who we are. And if we adopt a broad definition of ‘self’ as including our ‘true nature’ in a spiritual (we’re all one) sense. Even choosing the highest good is an ultimately selfish act when you look at it that way.
Also consider that we’re all born with different personalities, talents, & handicaps. Is it feasible that this would also affect each individual’s morality?
This whole conversation was fun food for thought. But it was probably not much more than mental masturbation.
If nothing eose, hopefully it will put these Harvard kids on a fun path towards increased awareness.
Jason,
Profoundly timely.
As we evolve as species, Creative Marketers in the powerful Online Medium, could impact everything much more positively by Creatively applying these principles in the uses of their motivational manipulations. Most of them are brilliant, but behave as shallow juveniles. I urge advancements from mere thinking to Awareness.
Thanks,
Norm A.
Jason,
It was an interesting discussion, and I agree with much of what ZenGlen says. I felt there were some very obvious missing elements in the dialogue like where do the laws, above reason, originate?
ZenGlen, acting for the good of all, putting others before self and when it is personally difficult, I can’t see how that is self serving when the motive and intent are pure. Would it not be a preferred outcome rather than acting from greed, malice, etc?
I agree the discussion was very mental and not heart centered… If one acts against love, in any manner, it is a choice that could very well have a negative impact on one’s future.
My 2 cents.
John Kehoe speaks of never doing business with anyone unless it serves all parties – and so while this may serve you it also serves me
If more would be guided to this way of thinking I am certain the world as we experience it, would benefit!
What would Love do now is outstanding because it infers being “In The Now”- Which for me is about the heart and not over-complicating the mental
That is where all the best decisions are made – The Heart
In my experience I have learnt not to over-intellectualise, it can be detrimental to your Being (living in the past, negative thinking, emotional baggage) creating an unhappy reality for the body
Thanks for the food for thought
Even now I am wondering what the bleep Spiderman is doing in class instead of ‘saving’ the world…lol
Excellent mental fodder, Jason.
I like this one :
“So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as means only.”
~Immanuel Kant
Dude, nice video find. It’s really pertinent to doing the sort of emotional, long term influence copywriting I do. I’ve often thought of looking to philosophy for insight, but it’s pretty dense to study directly, especially if I just want little nuggets here and there. This vid has probably generated as much insight for me as any “marketing” tutorial I’ve watched recently. Especially the part about how people are living slaves to their animal drives. Ad campaigns like “Obey Your Thirst” for Sprite literally harness fulfillment of thes4e basic desires directly to their chosen action for you. Bernays would be proud. 🙂 Thanks again for posting!
well, well, wellllll….
looks like ur road trip has you e x p a n d i n g ur self even more dude.
look… the short cliff notes version of this is quite simple:
(of course Harvard profs have to mentally masturbate about something so simple)
do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
and don’t do it that way, because it’s “right”, do it that way because you esteem and have reverence for life, yourself and for all wo/men, and you believe all this as your core awareness, so strongly, that you just wouldn’t even have to ability to consider doing it any differently.
personally dude, seems 2 me most all the IM’ers out there
(and all big marketers off line as well) are:
acting from the motive of: Inclination (and not moral duty)
in an attempt to strip their prospects of their Autonomy/Freedom
using imperatives which are hypothetical for selfish gain
and all the while, showing no reverence or respect… and rather some form of a synthetic, manufactured, pseudo-presence of caring for their customer…. as they run off to their jello-shots, to one of their 3 mansions, to 1 of their many upscale cars or onto some hi-end-gear to pursue their favorite past-time… while the end user-customer, may or may not get benefit from their purchase. All that matters is… “WOW, we really made bank with this product, launch etc.”
I seriously hope you’ve had the chance, on the road, while away from SD, CA… to see a different slice of life across the 50. Cause you keep tellin’ me how ur different and u have the “it factor.”
Yet u keep company with people who are doing what was just outlined above. Even if ur not doing it, dude… ur judged by the company u keep.
maybe you can roll by here on ur way back “home?”
u liked that video?… we can get into some deep water. check the ip, and see if it’s on ur west bound road map. this is the kind of stuff that my life has been about since the age of 8… or seen another way… for over 4 1/2 decades
tx for the share. loved it. ought to be a newbies 101 intro to the science of selling.
rock on ur wheels!
K
Aside from the issue – “Motives and Morality” which was interesting, I must admit, I didn’t watch it all.
I was tuning in to see what happens at 6:50 as Adam had pointed out in the first comment.
I saw Spiderman himself in the audience.
Obviously taking notes and drawing his own webbed conclusions to the discussion at hand.
And I do see a resemblance between Michael Sandel and Trek’s “Data” indeed.
Make it so.
Powerpaul
I can’t get enough of this Michael Sandel guy. I am hooked on his Justice series. The first episode about Murder & Cannibalism was fascinating. It’s just upsetting that it ends so ambiguous leaving my questions unanswered. But he really makes you think.