15 Q's with Bass Professor of Government Michael J. Sandel
1.FM: Congratulations on topping the class enrollment list this semester. How does it feel to be the biggest?
Michael J. Sandel: The best part is that the class discussions spill out of Sanders and into the Yard, the Houses, and the dining halls. Having so many students reading the same texts and debating the same questions makes for a shared intellectual experience, which adds to the learning and also the fun.
2.FM: Do you think that making your class available to students through the Extension School has the effect of devaluing it? Part of Harvard’s draw is the privilege to study with Skip Gates and Stephen Greenblatt and Michael Sandel—by offering the experience to anyone who signs up, students might feel slightly duped, despite it having no direct effect on them?
MJS: I don’t think you should worry that giving others access to distance learning will somehow dilute or devalue the college experience. Even at its best, distance learning can’t replace what goes on when students and teachers gather, in-person, in the classroom, in a lab, or around a seminar table. If it can, then something is wrong with the way we are teaching.
3.FM: Who are better students: the alums or the undergrads?
MJS: Alums bring experience, undergrads an openness and inquisitiveness. Teaching undegraduates is a special privelege (except when they worry too much about grades).
4.FM: You also teach Government 1093: “Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature.” What sparked your interest in biotechnology?
MJS: Serving on the President’s Council on Bioethics, which I did for four years. It thrust me into debates about stem cell policy, cloning, and genetic engineering. I became fascinared by these topics and brought them into my teaching and writing. One year, I brought my junior seminar to Washington to observe one of the sessions and meet with members of the council. We had a great time.
5.FM: As you discuss in “The Case Against Perfection,” genetic engineering will diminish human appreciation of innate gifts. Who cares though, if I can get some huge biceps?
MJS: Why not try the gym instead?
[Editors’ note: FM refuses to try the gym, on principle.]
6.FM: Speaking of huge biceps, are you in touch with former University President Lawrence H. Summers?
MJS: We were together recently at a conference in Europe on what makes an educated person in the 21st century. We voiced our usual disagreements and then had an enjoyable dinner afterwards.
7.FM: Your book “Public Philosophy” suggests that the left influence national mores to emphasize the common good over an individual right to fairness. Could the right theoretically use a similar vision of common good to justify its agenda?
MJS: I wouldn’t say that the common good should be pursued at the expense of fairness. But I do think that liberals could do a better job of articulating their vision of the common good. Since Ronald Reagan, conservatives have been more effective than liberals in voicing moral and spiritual themes. This is a change from the 1960s, when Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy made powerful appeals to the common good.
8.FM: What do you think of President Drew G.
Faust’s tenure so far?
MJS: Terrific. President Faust has already made some excellent appointments and set just the right tone for her presidency. I’m a great fan.
9.FM: What do you think Harvard’s biggest challenge will be in the next 10 years?
MJS: May I give you three? First, changing the academic culture so that Harvard undergraduate education can be as good as it should be; second, building the sciences while helping the humanities to find their mission and voice; and third, figuring out how Harvard should define its global presence and engage with higher education in the developing world.
10.FM: Given your communitarian arguments, could you tell a Nazi that Nazism is wrong?
MJS: I assume you mean persuade, not just tell a Nazi that Nazism is wrong. I would try a range of arguments—some universal (about respecting human dignity) and some more particular (about living up to the best in German history). None of these arguments would necessarily persuade the Nazi, but we can’t know until we try.
11.FM: Could you tell Voldemort that the Dark Arts are wrong?
MJS: That would be a hopeless task, even for a philosopher.
12.FM: You’ve taught “Justice” to well over a 10,000 people, many of whom are or soon will be pretty influential. What if your theories are wrong and there are 10,000 people powerful walking around the world with the wrong idea of justice?
MJS: I would worry, but most of the course exposes students to a broad range of moral and political theories. I only offer my own views toward the end of the semester, by which time the students are well-equipped to disagree with me, which they often do.
13.FM: If you could enroll in any class this semester, besides your own, what would it be?
MJS: [Literature and Arts B-51,] “First Nights.”
14.FM: Who was your favorite Cleveland Indians right fielder during the 1997-2000 seasons?
MJS: Manny Ramirez, obviously. Coming from Minnesota, I began life as a Twins fans in the days of Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva. But my loyalties have long since shifted to the Red Sox.
15.FM: We were looking for David Justice, but that’s okay. Do you read FM?
MJS: I will from now on.