Justice: What's The Right Thing To Do? Episode 05: "HIRED GUNS"

PART ONE: HIRED GUNS
During the Civil War, men drafted into war had the option of hiring substitutes to fight in their place. Professor Sandel asks students whether they consider this policy just. Many do not, arguing that it is unfair to allow the affluent to avoid serving and risking their lives by paying less privileged citizens to fight in their place. This leads to a classroom debate about war and conscription. Is todays voluntary army open to the same objection? Should military service be allocated by the labor market or by conscription? What role should patriotism play, and what are the obligations of citizenship? Is there a civic duty to serve ones country? And are utilitarians and libertarians able to account for this duty?

PART TWO: MOTHERHOOD: FOR SALE

In this lecture, Professor Sandel examines the principle of free-market exchange in light of the contemporary controversy over reproductive rights. Sandel begins with a humorous discussion of the business of egg and sperm donation. He then describes the case of Baby M"—a famous legal battle in the mid-eighties that raised the unsettling question, Who owns a baby?" In 1985, a woman named Mary Beth Whitehead signed a contract with a New Jersey couple, agreeing to be a surrogate mother in exchange for a fee of $10,000. However, after giving birth, Ms. Whitehead decided she wanted to keep the child, and the case went to court. Sandel and students debate the nature of informed consent, the morality of selling a human life, and the meaning of maternal rights.

• Category

  Education

[gazelle1991]

It's kind of funny how they use the word "defense" to describe the war in Iraq. Hmm and here I thought bringing troops into other countries is "offense." They are trying to achieve some agendas by willingly going into other countries. Shouldnt "defense" only be use in the case you were attacked?

[ShreyBaby1]

I would LOVE going to class if he was my professor.

[Petr Mazak]

That blond girl willing to bid for an adoption? I just fell in love.

[Jake Yu]

hahaha the Asian girl in the the background gets all embarrassed when Kathleen says, "screw the mom's emotions" @ 39:20 

[Danny Belcher]

On the question regarding military conscription during the Civil War and the provision that allowed someone like Andrew Carnegie to buy his way out of service: It was the definition of a "Lockeian" form of arbitrary corruption. The provision destroyed the whole concept of every member having an equal chance of being drafted. The poorest of people had virtually no way out and the wealthy were under no imposed obligation to serve. How is this distinction not recognized?

[xzombiefartx]

Fart

[Daniella Muñoz Chavarri]

I think, in the question of military recruitment, that there is nothing that wrong about paying someone to go to war for you. But the injustice of the situation is that this solution is only available to those who can afford it, which I would dare to say that it is the minority of the population. I think that it is unfair that only a privileged number of people have a right to not go to war, instead I think that everyone should have the right to decline if they want to.

[Dhruva Mistry]

Lovely lectures with most engaging topics of life and reason.:)

[Publius Madison]

Part 1 concerns rights and duties between an individual and their government (society). Part 2 is about rights of individuals between each other (private rights). An aside on Part 1: the draft riots in NY during the civil war were not about coercion to take money, but the coercion of a draft that did not apply to people wealthy enough to buy their way out. In part 2 Mr Sandel stops just short of plainly asking what interest does SOCIETY have in enforcing certain contracts between individuals ?