The MOOC Revolution: Law Schools

Justice

School: Harvard University
Platform: edX
Link: https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-er22x-justice-571
Start Date: Currently Available (Self-Paced)
Workload: Two Hours or More per Week (21 Weeks Long)
Instructor: Michael J. Sandel
Credentials: Dr. Sandel has taught political philosophy at Harvard since 1980. He is best known for his Justice course, which has enrolled over 15,000 online students to date. A renowned teacher, Sandel has earned the Harvard-Radcliffe Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize. He was also named the “most influential foreign figure of the year” by China Newsweek. He earned his doctorate from Harvard and has published five books that have been translated into 23 languages.
Graded: Not Specified
Description: “What’s the right thing to do?” That question is at the heart of Professor Sandel’s Justice course. In this course, students apply the philosophical underpinnings of Locke, Kant, and Mill to hot button topics like economic inequality, sexuality, and affirmative action. In each videotaped lecture, students can voice their opinions and comment on views and arguments made by their peers. For the live online course, students can also interact directly with instructors.
Review: “Extraordinarily engaging lectures that were very effective in explaining theories of justice and in transmitting to students more profound ways of confronting there own intuitions about right and wrong. For me this was just the right level. We touched on major philosophers from Aristotle through Locke, Kant, Bentham, Mill, Nozick, etc. enough to understand different ways of addressing what is good and what is right. It does not make me an expert, but it does give me new tools for making decisions on what policies to support and maybe even what actions to take. The time investment was not so great but the return on that investment was very high.” For additional reviews, click here.
Additional Background: All readings are available online, but supplementary readings can be accessed by purchasing Sandel’s Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?