Doing justice

The pursuit of political philosophy has led some men far afield it took Plato to Syracuse. Rousseau to Geneva, and Marx to London. For Michael J. Sandel, it has led from the halls of Oxford University to the Soldiers Field softball diamond.

Sandel, an associate professor of Government, has been described as "a promising political theorist, the most prominent in his generation," as well as a "versatile" regular in the Government Department's Saturday morning softball games.

Of course, it was not Sandel's fielding that caused the department to offer him a job four years ago. Professor Michael Walzer, now director of the Institute for Advanced Study, was a member of the search committee that selected Sandel. Walzer said that the manuscript of Sandel's first book. Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, published in 1983, was an important factor in the decision.

In his book, Sandel critiques the brand of liberal theory associated with Conant University Professor John Rawls, who argues that justice should be the primary value in a liberal society. Rawls claimed that his theory is best suited to a society which accepts the right of individuals to determine their own lives. Rawls also maintains that his theory presupposes no particular ideas about human nature. Sandel attacks this last claim, criticizing the view implicit in these theories, and suggests that an outlook based on community values rather than individual values would be more appropriate.

According to Sheldon Wolin, a Princeton University professor of political theory, the book "is very important in reassessing the Rawls orthodoxy which is so prominent today," and it "offers a democratic understanding of the place of community."

Yet Sandel has been criticized for not providing an alternative set of values and in Walzer's opinion. "It is not absolutely clear what it [a community perspective] means. He's criticizing certain kinds of liberal thought from a perspective he hasn't fully defined."

But Sandel says that he will address these criticisms in a new book, which will discuss the state of liberal democracy in America, one half philosophical, and one half institutional and historical. "It's a study of the interplay of ideas and institutions. I'm trying to identify the public philosophy in our institutions. Where the last book was concerned with moral and political ideas, the new book tries to draw the connection of the theory and practice in contemporary America," the professor says. Sandel took a leave of absence this spring to do research on the topic.

In addition to the new book, Sandel this year has published papers and articles for Political Theory. The New Republic, and the New York Times Book Review. Sandel has also spoken at Columbia, Chicago, Boston and Georgetown Universities. Sandel is the editor of a collection called Liberalism and Its Critics that will be published this fall.

Sandel, a graduate of Brandeis, first became interested in philosophy while a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. "Before I knew it, I was drawn into moral and political philosophy for the four years I was there." After Oxford, Sandel spent a year teaching at Brandeis and then moved on to Harvard.

Next year Sandel will teach his popular Moral Reasoning 22, "Justice", and "Modern Political Thought" with Professor of Government Harvey C. Mansfield.

Cristina Dal Ville '85, who took "Justice" last fall, says that Sandel "makes you think 'God, how can I think this way!'"

Martin Peretz, lecturer in Social Studies and editor of the New Republic, echos that sentiment "What's most interesting about Sandel is that he brings the philosophic consequences of public controversies into sharp focus. In our time it is rather more rare than it used to be."