Town Hall South: Philosopher calls for greater public discourse

For a lecture that took place on Election Day, Michael Sandel opened with some time-appropriate statements.
“These are dangerous times for democracy,” he told his audience at the Upper St. Clair High School Theater. “People are frustrated with politics and political parties, and for good reason.”
The premise he shared Nov. 7 as part of the Town Hall South lecture series revolved around the dilution and resulting hollowness of public discourse in the United States, leading to “partisan food-fighting on talk radio, television and the floors of Congress.”
“People want public discourse to be about big things, including questions about justice and values,” Sandel said. “We’re not doing a very good job of it.”
The Harvard political philosophy professor, whose course Justice is the first course at the university to be made available freely online and on television, discussed the types of questions that might be of relevance.
For instance: What should be the role of money and markets in our lives?
“Today, there are few things that money can’t buy,” he said, although he wrote a book published in 2012 titled “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.”
He illustrated the point with examples that seemed to be news to most audience members, varying from jail-cell upgrades for a couple of hundred bucks a day in California to paying for the services offered by linestanding.com, which provides place-holding “persons to stand in line anywhere in the greater Washington, D.C., area.” Listed as specialties are proceedings and Congressional and Supreme Court hearings.
Sandel’s contention is that during the past three decades, the United States at large has experienced a shift from a market economy to what he calls a market society: “Marketing begins to reach into almost every aspect of life.”
And that begs the question: “Are there some things that money can’t buy, even if it tries?”
In turn, economics often clash with moral stances on issues with major implications, such as whether to allow a global market for organ transplantation.
“Very poor people would be selling kidneys to more affluent people,” Sandel surmised. “Would their choices really be voluntary? Is it fair that the rich would be able to buy the body parts of the poor?”
On the other hand, an avenue for a greater availability would mean more lives saved.
Sandel also discussed the subtle distinction of paying fines vs. paying fees, and how it affects people’s sense of values.
He told about visiting his son Aaron, an anthropologist studying chimpanzees in Uganda, and seeing a sign on the way to a nature preserve announcing a $250 fine for off-road motoring. As the driver of their vehicle explained:
“It’s not prohibited. It just costs $250 to drive off the road.”
Similar attitudes could apply to, say, young, affluent American drivers for whom speeding tickets represent no financial burden. But consider Finland’s approach to that type of reckless driving:
“The fine is a proportion of your income.” As such, an heir to a Finnish sausage business once drew the equivalent of $217,000.
In Sandel’s opinion, public discourse about matters involving weighty ethical and moral considerations is a lost art that should be revived in this country.
“That will make for a healthier democracy,” he said, “and I think it will make us all better democratic citizens.”
Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His writings – on justice, ethics, democracy and markets – have been translated into 27 languages.
Sandel’s books include “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets,” “Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?,” “The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering” and Democracy’s Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy.”
His BBC series “The Public Philosopher” explores the philosophical ideas lying behind the headlines with audiences around the world, including a discussion of violence against women, recorded in India, and a debate about democracy in Britain’s Parliament. In Brazil, he recently led a debate on corruption and the ethics of everyday life that reached an audience of 19 million on Globo TV.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he earned his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
“Are there some things that money can’t buy, even if it tries?”