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

Tags:

• Harvard University
• Michael Sandel
• WGBH
• Justice

[cynicshminic]

Raoul is always in it and Sandel can never be bothered remembering his name haha

[djslavyslav]

Oh no! Michael Sandel is going to be buried under snow!!!

God I love youtube during christmas time :D

[BillofRightsBrutus]

There is no true informed consensus without conscription; worse, no adequate balance as to the individual liberty/life interests weighed and decided upon collectively in the first place. Therefore the "decision" of war is inherently flawed. It's why America disavowed drafts yet retained war. There is no incentive for people of a nation to be informed or thoughtful as to war absent conscription; the only variable is "money". i.e. The analysis is "property", but the subject matter "life".

[crollmarketing]

I love the issues he brings up. You know it's a good series when you get challenged in such a way that you may not neccesarily have a clear answer. I didn't really know what I thought about a mom having a baby for someone who goes back on a contract. It's true that the conditions were unfair because she didn't have all the information, like he mentions later on about his kids and the baseball cards. I think people should never enter into a contract if they don't fully know the conditions.

[dexxboyy]

@cynicshminic lmfao yes!

[a1949seeker]

An all volunteer army facilitates the governments ability to act in a much more arbitrary fashion!!!!

[Daharen]

Effort is the problem with comparing female and male relations to their children. If a mother could have their child grown in a tube and not connected to them inseparably for 9 months then I argue that the bond would be irrelevant. However in the case of surrogacy, I think it is important to note that although a bond may or may not form, the male incapability to relate CANNOT be disregarded, as he had no choice in the matter, even though the mother was forced. Fairness in opportunity.

[noobler9]

@noobler9 as for sperm donors, choice of the primary parents (woma/en) would be important, there ARE differences between men and women on this, personal selection is a perfectly acceptable form of eugenics

[noobler9]

@noobler9 of course, due to physiological concerns, she should probably be able to have visitation rights of her own, lol

[noobler9]

great, so she's baby sitting for 9 months (assuming of course she's not contributing half the genetics herself in which case shared custody is the answer)

it's not hers then, she's just a really attached baby sitter