Public philosophy

In this book, Michael Sandel takes up some of the hotly contested moral and political issues of our time, including affirmative action, assisted suicide, abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, the meaning of toleration and civility, the gap between rich and poor, the role of markets, and the place of religion in public life. He argues that the most prominent ideals in our political life--individual rights and freedom of choice--do not by themselves provide an adequate ethic for a democratic society. Sandel calls for a politics that gives greater emphasis to citizenship, community, and civic virtue, and that grapples more directly with questions of the good life. Liberals often worry that inviting moral and religious argument into the public sphere runs the risk of intolerance and coercion. These essays respond to that concern by showing that substantive moral discourse is not at odds with progressive public purposes, and that a pluralist society need not shrink from engaging the moral and religious convictions that its citizens bring to public life.
Introduction
Part I. American Civic Life
1. America´s Search for a Public Philosophy
2. Beyond Individualism: Democrats and Community
3. The Politics of Easy Virtue
4. Big Ideas
5. The Problem with Civility
6. Impeachment--Then and Now
7. Robert F. Kennedy´s Promise
Part II. Moral and Political Arguments
8. Against State Lotteries
9. Commercials in the Classroom
10. Branding the Public Realm
11. Sports and Civic Identity
12. History for Sale
13. The Market for Merit
14. Should We Buy the Right to Pollute?
15. Honor and Resentment
16. Arguing Affirmative Action
17. Should Victims Have a Say in Sentencing?
18. Clinton and Kant on Lying
19. Is There a Right to Assisted Suicide?
20. Embryo Ethics: The Moral Logic of Stem Cell Research
21. Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration: Abortion and Homosexuality
Part III. Liberalism, Pluralism, and Community
22. Morality and the Liberal Ideal
23. The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self
24. Justice as Membership
25. The Peril of Extinction
26. Dewey´s Liberalism and Ours
27. Mastery and Hubris in Judaism: What´s Wrong with Playing God?
28. Political Liberalism
29. Remembering Rawls
30. The Limits of Communitarianism