A class open to the world
Harvard Professor Michael Sandel has opened his wildly popular “Justice” class to the world. Tapping into the Internet and using several iPads as video cameras, Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, connected his Harvard students in Sanders Theatre on Friday with students in Japan, China, Brazil, and India for a wide-ranging discussion that explored the complicated question of the ethics of solidarity and the dilemmas associated with patriotism, membership, and collective responsibility. It was the third time that students in Sandel’s class have interacted with students from around the globe, and the numbers suggest the innovative experiment is paying off. Hundreds of undergraduates made their way to Sanders for the extra morning session — the class typically only meets on Mondays and Wednesdays — for a chance to hear what their international peers thought about challenging moral questions. “Ethical reasoning and moral argument change their character in rich...