Description
First, please watch/listen to the following:
Watch: Sandel, Michael (2013), “The Moral Limits of Markets” (Links to an external site.)
Explanation: Michael Sandel (Links to an external site.) is a Harvard philosopher who has worked extensively in ethics and political philosophy. One of his major research undertakings has been on the relationship between morality and the commercial sphere, which he presents here (and has presented similarly elsewhere). Specifically, Sandel raises worries about our transition from a society with markets to a market society, wherein market values come to dominate every aspect of life, which I think is an important perspective on some of the themes we have seen covered in the rest of the material in this module.
Second, please reflect on and discuss these pieces. You may focus on whatever is of interest to you as long as it’s relevant, but I offer a few questions you might consider if you’re not sure where to start:
(1) Do you agree that our society shows a tendency toward becoming a market society in Sandel’s sense? Why or why not?
(2) What would your preferred policy on walrus hunting quotas (one of Sandel’s examples) be, and why? – and what about other, related examples?
(3) In your opinion, to what extent is a move toward becoming a market society something to worry about or object to? Why do you think as you do?
(4) What relationship do you see between Sandel’s concerns about becoming a market society and Graeber’s concerns about the tendency to frame much of our lives in terms of reciprocal exchange?
(5) What bearing might moral theories like Kant’s or Mill’s bear on these questions of the role of commercial markets in our lives?
(6) Anything else that comes to mind?