Sandel, M. J. (2009). Justice: What 's the right thing to do? New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Throughout our lives we will all face different decisions, some that may cause us to look at our morals and principles a little closer. People tend to look for things that bring pleasure and happiness, all while trying to please ourselves and others. We do everything possible to avoid or pain or being uncomfortable, many times hurting others in the process. In this book, Sandel explores the concept of justice and how differently we can each perceive it through real life situations. Sandel outlines three moral approaches to justice that are meant to help us understand the way people makes. The first approach, utilitarianism which seeks to maximize welfare by …show more content…
He argues that this utilitarian approach adopts a common metric can be found, that all morals or values can be represented by a common currency of value, although most people would argue that human lives cannot be minimized to a dollar value. Another example by Sandel is that of the City of Happiness, a story by author Ursula K. Le Guin, to explain why utilitarianism is not an acceptable philosophy. In this story, Le Guin, details the fictional city of Omelas, which appears to be perfect on the exterior; the people are all happy and prosperous, the city is filled with beautiful buildings but at the heart of the city’s happiness is one child who must suffer to keep the city in this prosperous and happy state. In this scenario, Sandel argues that violating fundamental human rights by violating the rights of one child for the benefit of the entire city is not morally acceptable and that, “it would be wrong to violate the rights of the innocent child, even for the sake of the happiness of the multitude”
Throughout our lives we will all face different decisions, some that may cause us to look at our morals and principles a little closer. People tend to look for things that bring pleasure and happiness, all while trying to please ourselves and others. We do everything possible to avoid or pain or being uncomfortable, many times hurting others in the process. In this book, Sandel explores the concept of justice and how differently we can each perceive it through real life situations. Sandel outlines three moral approaches to justice that are meant to help us understand the way people makes. The first approach, utilitarianism which seeks to maximize welfare by …show more content…
He argues that this utilitarian approach adopts a common metric can be found, that all morals or values can be represented by a common currency of value, although most people would argue that human lives cannot be minimized to a dollar value. Another example by Sandel is that of the City of Happiness, a story by author Ursula K. Le Guin, to explain why utilitarianism is not an acceptable philosophy. In this story, Le Guin, details the fictional city of Omelas, which appears to be perfect on the exterior; the people are all happy and prosperous, the city is filled with beautiful buildings but at the heart of the city’s happiness is one child who must suffer to keep the city in this prosperous and happy state. In this scenario, Sandel argues that violating fundamental human rights by violating the rights of one child for the benefit of the entire city is not morally acceptable and that, “it would be wrong to violate the rights of the innocent child, even for the sake of the happiness of the multitude”