{"id":21874,"date":"2009-09-09T16:01:19","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T20:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"\/gazette\/?p=21874"},"modified":"2009-09-09T16:01:19","modified_gmt":"2009-09-09T20:01:19","slug":"getting-justice-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2009\/09\/getting-justice-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting justice right"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tNation & World\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tGetting justice right\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\n\t
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\n\t\tCorydon Ireland\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard News Office \t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tHKS panel takes aim at a new book\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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Justice \u2014 that elusive state of fairness and rectitude in human affairs \u2014 is a big concept to wrap your head around.<\/p>\n

But four heads are better than one. Add in the head of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (preserved in a box at University College London) and \u2014 OK \u2014 you are way ahead.<\/p>\n

Four experts in political philosophy, whether as practiced or preached, grappled with the notion of justice this week (Sept. 8) during a public conversation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.<\/p>\n

The evening panel was the first public discussion of Michael Sandel<\/a>\u2019s latest book, \u201cJustice: What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do?\u201d to be published later this month. (Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government. His undergraduate course, \u201cJustice<\/a>,\u201d has over the years drawn in 14,000 students.)<\/p>\n

Joining Sandel were Niall Ferguson<\/a>, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; Lani Guinier<\/a>, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; and author, columnist, and speechwriter Peggy Noonan<\/a>, who this fall is a fellow at the Institute of Politics, which sponsored the panel.<\/p>\n

The talking that ensued had the intimate feel of a high-level dinner table conversation, despite the venue (the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum) and the 150 listeners. And like any good conversation, there was play, deliberate one-liners, friendly challenges, and laughter.<\/p>\n

Thus the mention of Bentham\u2019s preserved head, which is in secure storage after a series of thefts, the last of which included a football practice. The head \u2014 preserved by desiccation \u2014 was once the anatomical feature that allowed the precocious Bentham (1748-1832) to both study Latin at age 3 and to later develop the utilitarian school of philosophy.<\/p>\n

Utility<\/em> \u2014 Bentham\u2019s idea that justice is what imparts the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people \u2014 is one of the three basic ways to explain justice, said Sandel.<\/p>\n

Consent<\/em> is the second, he said, and argued that justice depends on respecting individual rights and freedom.<\/p>\n

The third approach to finding the core of justice \u2014 virtue <\/em>\u2014 \u201cseems quaint and ancient\u201d today, said Sandel. But it should be the core idea, he added \u2014 that government and law are vehicles for promoting virtue itself, in the pursuit of a good life and the common good.<\/p>\n

The history of political philosophy unfolds around these three ideas, said Sandel, and most of all around the first two, which in contemporary terms are the most familiar theories of justice in Anglo-American political traditions.<\/p>\n

The coming book will try to rescue the idea of virtue as an underpinning for justice, explained Sandel. After all, virtue is a quality of mind and behavior that allows public debate and public policy to acknowledge that not all issues are morally neutral.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur most heated public debates are already about virtue,\u201d said Sandel, offering the example of same-sex marriage, couched in a debate over \u201ccompeting conceptions of virtue\u201d \u2014 arguments over what kind of family units \u201care worthy of honor and recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ferguson shot in with a rejoinder \u2014 that putting virtue foremost in the arena of justice only invites power by extremists. \u201cI\u2019m not sure you\u2019re ever going to get me to be enthusiastic about virtue,\u201d he said. \u201cI just see [French Reign of Terror architect] Robespierre every time you use that word. At the bottom of republican virtues you send people to the guillotine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandel was quick to acknowledge that \u201cimposing virtue\u201d invites in the dark side of fundamentalist view. But though virtue \u201cis dangerous,\u201d he said, \u201cit is also indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s goal, said Sandel, is first to see that such notions of virtue\u2019s dangers are \u201cdisquieted,\u201d and then to see that the idea of virtue is \u201csaved\u201d \u2014 that is, put back where it belongs, in the center of political debate.<\/p>\n

Virtue is \u201cavowedly judgmental,\u201d he said \u2014 but it revives the \u201ctradition of the common good\u201d more than it does the specter of the guillotine. \u201cLaw cannot be neutral or nonjudgmental,\u201d said Sandel. \u201cIt leads to an emptiness in our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noonan, a one-time speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, praised Sandel\u2019s book for its reminder that \u201cwe are mischievous, marvelous, complicated human beings\u201d \u2014 and that justice is one of the conundrums we struggle with.<\/p>\n

But for one, she said, \u201cwhenever I hear the word \u2018justice\u2019 I always want it to be coupled with the word \u2018mercy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

And though justice is \u201cone of the purposes of politics,\u201d added Noonan, politics and its practitioners will always turn to what works. Noonan said any discussion of political philosophy, including rumination on the ideas of justice and virtue, will always be leavened by the press of real events, in real time. \u201cPolitical figures are not philosopher kings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sandel and his three guests took on some other real-world debates that relate to the concept of justice, including health care, reparations for slavery, and the Wall Street bailout.<\/p>\n

The idea of virtue belongs in these debates, in some way, said Guinier, a former U.S. civil rights attorney, who in the 1980s directed the voting rights project for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.\u00a0 But it\u2019s important that the idea of virtue at the same time \u201cbe practical and concrete,\u201d she said, chiding Sandel. \u201cJust the word itself bothers me. It sounds elitist and aristocratic.\u201d<\/p>\n

So \u201crethink the term \u2018virtue,\u2019\u201d said Guinier, and embrace the idea that justice \u201ccannot be deliberated or debated in the abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means drawing history into the debate, said the law professor. \u201cJustice has to take into account the historical forces [with] which people are living.\u201d Take reparations for slavery, said Guinier: Virtue could propel us into a national debate on the issue of repaying American blacks for a past suffering that some experts today say is the cause of present suffering.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sympathetic to it,\u201d said Sandel of reparations. After all, he said, a conservative\u2019s vaunted \u201cpride in the past\u201d might include the idea of \u201ctaking responsibility\u201d for the past, including its chapters of injustice. (\u201cThe practicalities of this,\u201d countered Ferguson, \u201cmake nonsense of the idea.\u201d)<\/p>\n

And health care? Virtue belongs in the debate, said Sandel \u2014 and in fact President Obama \u201chas lost the upper hand\u201d by concentrating on the technicalities of national health care instead of its moral imperatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe debate about health care could be a debate about justice,\u201d said Guinier. \u201cBut it would be worthwhile to get concrete again\u201d \u2014 by proposing a pilot system of free health clinics, for instance.<\/p>\n

There are \u201ccounter moral arguments\u201d within the national health care debate, said Noonan \u2014 including that deep federal expenditures today could saddle future generations with crippling taxes.<\/p>\n

Perhaps health care requires all three of Sandel\u2019s \u201cvantage points\u201d on understanding justice, said Ferguson: utility,<\/em> since the present system \u201cclearly can\u2019t be defended\u201d and hardly provides the greatest good for the greatest number; consent, since universal coverage is possible without violating individual rights \u2014 \u201cwithout a British-style system of socialism\u201d; and virtue<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n

The present American health care system, with its gaps in coverage, \u201ccannot be accepted morally, in a meaningful community, in a real republic,\u201d said Ferguson, turning to Sandel. \u201cIn your<\/em> terms, in terms of virtue, it is not virtuous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Institute of Politics hosts the first public discussion of Michael Sandel\u2019s new book, \u201cJustice: What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do?\u201d coming out later this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105622744,"featured_media":21876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"gz_ga_pageviews":8,"gz_ga_lastupdated":"2018-12-20 04:09","document_color_palette":null,"author":"Corydon Ireland","affiliation":"Harvard News Office 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class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<address class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"author wp-block-post-author__name\">\n\t\tCorydon Ireland\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-post-author__byline\">\n\t\t\tHarvard News Office \t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<time class=\"article-header__date\" datetime=\"2009-09-09\">\n\t\t\tSeptember 9, 2009\t\t<\/time>\n\n\t\t<span class=\"article-header__reading-time\">\n\t\t\t7 min read\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"article-header__subheading wp-block-heading\">\n\t\t\tHKS panel takes aim at a new book\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n"},"2":{"blockName":"core\/group","attrs":{"templateLock":false,"metadata":{"name":"Article content"},"align":"wide","layout":{"type":"constrained","justifyContent":"center"},"tagName":"div","lock":[],"className":"","style":[],"backgroundColor":"","textColor":"","gradient":"","fontSize":"","fontFamily":"","borderColor":"","ariaLabel":"","anchor":""},"innerBlocks":[{"blockName":"core\/freeform","attrs":{"content":"","lock":[],"metadata":[]},"innerBlocks":[],"innerHTML":"\n\t\t<p>Justice \u2014 that elusive state of fairness and rectitude in human affairs \u2014 is a big concept to wrap your head around.<\/p>\n<p>But four heads are better than one. Add in the head of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (preserved in a box at University College London) and \u2014 OK \u2014 you are way ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Four experts in political philosophy, whether as practiced or preached, grappled with the notion of justice this week (Sept. 8) during a public conversation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.<\/p>\n<p>The evening panel was the first public discussion of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.harvard.edu\/people\/faculty\/michael-sandel\">Michael Sandel<\/a>\u2019s latest book, \u201cJustice: What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do?\u201d to be published later this month. (Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government. His undergraduate course, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/athome.harvard.edu\/programs\/jmr\/\">Justice<\/a>,\u201d has over the years drawn in 14,000 students.)<\/p>\n<p>Joining Sandel were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.niallferguson.com\/site\/FERG\/Templates\/Home.aspx?pageid=1\">Niall Ferguson<\/a>, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/index.html?id=24\">Lani Guinier<\/a>, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; and author, columnist, and speechwriter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peggynoonan.com\/biography.php\">Peggy Noonan<\/a>, who this fall is a fellow at the Institute of Politics, which sponsored the panel.<\/p>\n<p>The talking that ensued had the intimate feel of a high-level dinner table conversation, despite the venue (the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum) and the 150 listeners. And like any good conversation, there was play, deliberate one-liners, friendly challenges, and laughter.<\/p>\n<p>Thus the mention of Bentham\u2019s preserved head, which is in secure storage after a series of thefts, the last of which included a football practice. The head \u2014 preserved by desiccation \u2014 was once the anatomical feature that allowed the precocious Bentham (1748-1832) to both study Latin at age 3 and to later develop the utilitarian school of philosophy.<\/p>\n<p><em>Utility<\/em> \u2014 Bentham\u2019s idea that justice is what imparts the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people \u2014 is one of the three basic ways to explain justice, said Sandel.<\/p>\n<p><em>Consent<\/em> is the second, he said, and argued that justice depends on respecting individual rights and freedom.<\/p>\n<p>The third approach to finding the core of justice \u2014 <em>virtue <\/em>\u2014 \u201cseems quaint and ancient\u201d today, said Sandel. But it should be the core idea, he added \u2014 that government and law are vehicles for promoting virtue itself, in the pursuit of a good life and the common good.<\/p>\n<p>The history of political philosophy unfolds around these three ideas, said Sandel, and most of all around the first two, which in contemporary terms are the most familiar theories of justice in Anglo-American political traditions.<\/p>\n<p>The coming book will try to rescue the idea of virtue as an underpinning for justice, explained Sandel. After all, virtue is a quality of mind and behavior that allows public debate and public policy to acknowledge that not all issues are morally neutral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur most heated public debates are already about virtue,\u201d said Sandel, offering the example of same-sex marriage, couched in a debate over \u201ccompeting conceptions of virtue\u201d \u2014 arguments over what kind of family units \u201care worthy of honor and recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson shot in with a rejoinder \u2014 that putting virtue foremost in the arena of justice only invites power by extremists. \u201cI\u2019m not sure you\u2019re ever going to get me to be enthusiastic about virtue,\u201d he said. \u201cI just see [French Reign of Terror architect] Robespierre every time you use that word. At the bottom of republican virtues you send people to the guillotine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sandel was quick to acknowledge that \u201cimposing virtue\u201d invites in the dark side of fundamentalist view. But though virtue \u201cis dangerous,\u201d he said, \u201cit is also indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s goal, said Sandel, is first to see that such notions of virtue\u2019s dangers are \u201cdisquieted,\u201d and then to see that the idea of virtue is \u201csaved\u201d \u2014 that is, put back where it belongs, in the center of political debate.<\/p>\n<p>Virtue is \u201cavowedly judgmental,\u201d he said \u2014 but it revives the \u201ctradition of the common good\u201d more than it does the specter of the guillotine. \u201cLaw cannot be neutral or nonjudgmental,\u201d said Sandel. \u201cIt leads to an emptiness in our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noonan, a one-time speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, praised Sandel\u2019s book for its reminder that \u201cwe are mischievous, marvelous, complicated human beings\u201d \u2014 and that justice is one of the conundrums we struggle with.<\/p>\n<p>But for one, she said, \u201cwhenever I hear the word \u2018justice\u2019 I always want it to be coupled with the word \u2018mercy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And though justice is \u201cone of the purposes of politics,\u201d added Noonan, politics and its practitioners will always turn to what works. Noonan said any discussion of political philosophy, including rumination on the ideas of justice and virtue, will always be leavened by the press of real events, in real time. \u201cPolitical figures are not philosopher kings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sandel and his three guests took on some other real-world debates that relate to the concept of justice, including health care, reparations for slavery, and the Wall Street bailout.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of virtue belongs in these debates, in some way, said Guinier, a former U.S. civil rights attorney, who in the 1980s directed the voting rights project for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.\u00a0 But it\u2019s important that the idea of virtue at the same time \u201cbe practical and concrete,\u201d she said, chiding Sandel. \u201cJust the word itself bothers me. It sounds elitist and aristocratic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So \u201crethink the term \u2018virtue,\u2019\u201d said Guinier, and embrace the idea that justice \u201ccannot be deliberated or debated in the abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That means drawing history into the debate, said the law professor. \u201cJustice has to take into account the historical forces [with] which people are living.\u201d Take reparations for slavery, said Guinier: Virtue could propel us into a national debate on the issue of repaying American blacks for a past suffering that some experts today say is the cause of present suffering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sympathetic to it,\u201d said Sandel of reparations. After all, he said, a conservative\u2019s vaunted \u201cpride in the past\u201d might include the idea of \u201ctaking responsibility\u201d for the past, including its chapters of injustice. (\u201cThe practicalities of this,\u201d countered Ferguson, \u201cmake nonsense of the idea.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>And health care? Virtue belongs in the debate, said Sandel \u2014 and in fact President Obama \u201chas lost the upper hand\u201d by concentrating on the technicalities of national health care instead of its moral imperatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debate about health care could be a debate about justice,\u201d said Guinier. \u201cBut it would be worthwhile to get concrete again\u201d \u2014 by proposing a pilot system of free health clinics, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>There are \u201ccounter moral arguments\u201d within the national health care debate, said Noonan \u2014 including that deep federal expenditures today could saddle future generations with crippling taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps health care requires all three of Sandel\u2019s \u201cvantage points\u201d on understanding justice, said Ferguson: <em>utility,<\/em> since the present system \u201cclearly can\u2019t be defended\u201d and hardly provides the greatest good for the greatest number; consent, since universal coverage is possible without violating individual rights \u2014 \u201cwithout a British-style system of socialism\u201d; and <em>virtue<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n<p>The present American health care system, with its gaps in coverage, \u201ccannot be accepted morally, in a meaningful community, in a real republic,\u201d said Ferguson, turning to Sandel. \u201cIn<em> your<\/em> terms, in terms of virtue, it is not virtuous.\u201d<\/p>\n","innerContent":["\n\t\t<p>Justice \u2014 that elusive state of fairness and rectitude in human affairs \u2014 is a big concept to wrap your head around.<\/p>\n<p>But four heads are better than one. Add in the head of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (preserved in a box at University College London) and \u2014 OK \u2014 you are way ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Four experts in political philosophy, whether as practiced or preached, grappled with the notion of justice this week (Sept. 8) during a public conversation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.<\/p>\n<p>The evening panel was the first public discussion of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.harvard.edu\/people\/faculty\/michael-sandel\">Michael Sandel<\/a>\u2019s latest book, \u201cJustice: What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do?\u201d to be published later this month. (Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government. His undergraduate course, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/athome.harvard.edu\/programs\/jmr\/\">Justice<\/a>,\u201d has over the years drawn in 14,000 students.)<\/p>\n<p>Joining Sandel were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.niallferguson.com\/site\/FERG\/Templates\/Home.aspx?pageid=1\">Niall Ferguson<\/a>, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/index.html?id=24\">Lani Guinier<\/a>, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; and author, columnist, and speechwriter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peggynoonan.com\/biography.php\">Peggy Noonan<\/a>, who this fall is a fellow at the Institute of Politics, which sponsored the panel.<\/p>\n<p>The talking that ensued had the intimate feel of a high-level dinner table conversation, despite the venue (the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum) and the 150 listeners. And like any good conversation, there was play, deliberate one-liners, friendly challenges, and laughter.<\/p>\n<p>Thus the mention of Bentham\u2019s preserved head, which is in secure storage after a series of thefts, the last of which included a football practice. The head \u2014 preserved by desiccation \u2014 was once the anatomical feature that allowed the precocious Bentham (1748-1832) to both study Latin at age 3 and to later develop the utilitarian school of philosophy.<\/p>\n<p><em>Utility<\/em> \u2014 Bentham\u2019s idea that justice is what imparts the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people \u2014 is one of the three basic ways to explain justice, said Sandel.<\/p>\n<p><em>Consent<\/em> is the second, he said, and argued that justice depends on respecting individual rights and freedom.<\/p>\n<p>The third approach to finding the core of justice \u2014 <em>virtue <\/em>\u2014 \u201cseems quaint and ancient\u201d today, said Sandel. But it should be the core idea, he added \u2014 that government and law are vehicles for promoting virtue itself, in the pursuit of a good life and the common good.<\/p>\n<p>The history of political philosophy unfolds around these three ideas, said Sandel, and most of all around the first two, which in contemporary terms are the most familiar theories of justice in Anglo-American political traditions.<\/p>\n<p>The coming book will try to rescue the idea of virtue as an underpinning for justice, explained Sandel. After all, virtue is a quality of mind and behavior that allows public debate and public policy to acknowledge that not all issues are morally neutral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur most heated public debates are already about virtue,\u201d said Sandel, offering the example of same-sex marriage, couched in a debate over \u201ccompeting conceptions of virtue\u201d \u2014 arguments over what kind of family units \u201care worthy of honor and recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson shot in with a rejoinder \u2014 that putting virtue foremost in the arena of justice only invites power by extremists. \u201cI\u2019m not sure you\u2019re ever going to get me to be enthusiastic about virtue,\u201d he said. \u201cI just see [French Reign of Terror architect] Robespierre every time you use that word. At the bottom of republican virtues you send people to the guillotine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sandel was quick to acknowledge that \u201cimposing virtue\u201d invites in the dark side of fundamentalist view. But though virtue \u201cis dangerous,\u201d he said, \u201cit is also indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s goal, said Sandel, is first to see that such notions of virtue\u2019s dangers are \u201cdisquieted,\u201d and then to see that the idea of virtue is \u201csaved\u201d \u2014 that is, put back where it belongs, in the center of political debate.<\/p>\n<p>Virtue is \u201cavowedly judgmental,\u201d he said \u2014 but it revives the \u201ctradition of the common good\u201d more than it does the specter of the guillotine. \u201cLaw cannot be neutral or nonjudgmental,\u201d said Sandel. \u201cIt leads to an emptiness in our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noonan, a one-time speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, praised Sandel\u2019s book for its reminder that \u201cwe are mischievous, marvelous, complicated human beings\u201d \u2014 and that justice is one of the conundrums we struggle with.<\/p>\n<p>But for one, she said, \u201cwhenever I hear the word \u2018justice\u2019 I always want it to be coupled with the word \u2018mercy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And though justice is \u201cone of the purposes of politics,\u201d added Noonan, politics and its practitioners will always turn to what works. Noonan said any discussion of political philosophy, including rumination on the ideas of justice and virtue, will always be leavened by the press of real events, in real time. \u201cPolitical figures are not philosopher kings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sandel and his three guests took on some other real-world debates that relate to the concept of justice, including health care, reparations for slavery, and the Wall Street bailout.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of virtue belongs in these debates, in some way, said Guinier, a former U.S. civil rights attorney, who in the 1980s directed the voting rights project for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.\u00a0 But it\u2019s important that the idea of virtue at the same time \u201cbe practical and concrete,\u201d she said, chiding Sandel. \u201cJust the word itself bothers me. It sounds elitist and aristocratic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So \u201crethink the term \u2018virtue,\u2019\u201d said Guinier, and embrace the idea that justice \u201ccannot be deliberated or debated in the abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That means drawing history into the debate, said the law professor. \u201cJustice has to take into account the historical forces [with] which people are living.\u201d Take reparations for slavery, said Guinier: Virtue could propel us into a national debate on the issue of repaying American blacks for a past suffering that some experts today say is the cause of present suffering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sympathetic to it,\u201d said Sandel of reparations. After all, he said, a conservative\u2019s vaunted \u201cpride in the past\u201d might include the idea of \u201ctaking responsibility\u201d for the past, including its chapters of injustice. (\u201cThe practicalities of this,\u201d countered Ferguson, \u201cmake nonsense of the idea.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>And health care? Virtue belongs in the debate, said Sandel \u2014 and in fact President Obama \u201chas lost the upper hand\u201d by concentrating on the technicalities of national health care instead of its moral imperatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debate about health care could be a debate about justice,\u201d said Guinier. \u201cBut it would be worthwhile to get concrete again\u201d \u2014 by proposing a pilot system of free health clinics, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>There are \u201ccounter moral arguments\u201d within the national health care debate, said Noonan \u2014 including that deep federal expenditures today could saddle future generations with crippling taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps health care requires all three of Sandel\u2019s \u201cvantage points\u201d on understanding justice, said Ferguson: <em>utility,<\/em> since the present system \u201cclearly can\u2019t be defended\u201d and hardly provides the greatest good for the greatest number; consent, since universal coverage is possible without violating individual rights \u2014 \u201cwithout a British-style system of socialism\u201d; and <em>virtue<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n<p>The present American health care system, with its gaps in coverage, \u201ccannot be accepted morally, in a meaningful community, in a real republic,\u201d said Ferguson, turning to Sandel. \u201cIn<em> your<\/em> terms, in terms of virtue, it is not virtuous.\u201d<\/p>\n"],"rendered":"\n\t\t<p>Justice \u2014 that elusive state of fairness and rectitude in human affairs \u2014 is a big concept to wrap your head around.<\/p>\n<p>But four heads are better than one. Add in the head of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (preserved in a box at University College London) and \u2014 OK \u2014 you are way ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Four experts in political philosophy, whether as practiced or preached, grappled with the notion of justice this week (Sept. 8) during a public conversation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.<\/p>\n<p>The evening panel was the first public discussion of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.harvard.edu\/people\/faculty\/michael-sandel\">Michael Sandel<\/a>\u2019s latest book, \u201cJustice: What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do?\u201d to be published later this month. (Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government. His undergraduate course, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/athome.harvard.edu\/programs\/jmr\/\">Justice<\/a>,\u201d has over the years drawn in 14,000 students.)<\/p>\n<p>Joining Sandel were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.niallferguson.com\/site\/FERG\/Templates\/Home.aspx?pageid=1\">Niall Ferguson<\/a>, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/index.html?id=24\">Lani Guinier<\/a>, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; and author, columnist, and speechwriter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peggynoonan.com\/biography.php\">Peggy Noonan<\/a>, who this fall is a fellow at the Institute of Politics, which sponsored the panel.<\/p>\n<p>The talking that ensued had the intimate feel of a high-level dinner table conversation, despite the venue (the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum) and the 150 listeners. And like any good conversation, there was play, deliberate one-liners, friendly challenges, and laughter.<\/p>\n<p>Thus the mention of Bentham\u2019s preserved head, which is in secure storage after a series of thefts, the last of which included a football practice. The head \u2014 preserved by desiccation \u2014 was once the anatomical feature that allowed the precocious Bentham (1748-1832) to both study Latin at age 3 and to later develop the utilitarian school of philosophy.<\/p>\n<p><em>Utility<\/em> \u2014 Bentham\u2019s idea that justice is what imparts the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people \u2014 is one of the three basic ways to explain justice, said Sandel.<\/p>\n<p><em>Consent<\/em> is the second, he said, and argued that justice depends on respecting individual rights and freedom.<\/p>\n<p>The third approach to finding the core of justice \u2014 <em>virtue <\/em>\u2014 \u201cseems quaint and ancient\u201d today, said Sandel. But it should be the core idea, he added \u2014 that government and law are vehicles for promoting virtue itself, in the pursuit of a good life and the common good.<\/p>\n<p>The history of political philosophy unfolds around these three ideas, said Sandel, and most of all around the first two, which in contemporary terms are the most familiar theories of justice in Anglo-American political traditions.<\/p>\n<p>The coming book will try to rescue the idea of virtue as an underpinning for justice, explained Sandel. After all, virtue is a quality of mind and behavior that allows public debate and public policy to acknowledge that not all issues are morally neutral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur most heated public debates are already about virtue,\u201d said Sandel, offering the example of same-sex marriage, couched in a debate over \u201ccompeting conceptions of virtue\u201d \u2014 arguments over what kind of family units \u201care worthy of honor and recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson shot in with a rejoinder \u2014 that putting virtue foremost in the arena of justice only invites power by extremists. \u201cI\u2019m not sure you\u2019re ever going to get me to be enthusiastic about virtue,\u201d he said. \u201cI just see [French Reign of Terror architect] Robespierre every time you use that word. At the bottom of republican virtues you send people to the guillotine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sandel was quick to acknowledge that \u201cimposing virtue\u201d invites in the dark side of fundamentalist view. But though virtue \u201cis dangerous,\u201d he said, \u201cit is also indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s goal, said Sandel, is first to see that such notions of virtue\u2019s dangers are \u201cdisquieted,\u201d and then to see that the idea of virtue is \u201csaved\u201d \u2014 that is, put back where it belongs, in the center of political debate.<\/p>\n<p>Virtue is \u201cavowedly judgmental,\u201d he said \u2014 but it revives the \u201ctradition of the common good\u201d more than it does the specter of the guillotine. \u201cLaw cannot be neutral or nonjudgmental,\u201d said Sandel. \u201cIt leads to an emptiness in our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noonan, a one-time speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, praised Sandel\u2019s book for its reminder that \u201cwe are mischievous, marvelous, complicated human beings\u201d \u2014 and that justice is one of the conundrums we struggle with.<\/p>\n<p>But for one, she said, \u201cwhenever I hear the word \u2018justice\u2019 I always want it to be coupled with the word \u2018mercy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And though justice is \u201cone of the purposes of politics,\u201d added Noonan, politics and its practitioners will always turn to what works. Noonan said any discussion of political philosophy, including rumination on the ideas of justice and virtue, will always be leavened by the press of real events, in real time. \u201cPolitical figures are not philosopher kings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sandel and his three guests took on some other real-world debates that relate to the concept of justice, including health care, reparations for slavery, and the Wall Street bailout.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of virtue belongs in these debates, in some way, said Guinier, a former U.S. civil rights attorney, who in the 1980s directed the voting rights project for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.\u00a0 But it\u2019s important that the idea of virtue at the same time \u201cbe practical and concrete,\u201d she said, chiding Sandel. \u201cJust the word itself bothers me. It sounds elitist and aristocratic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So \u201crethink the term \u2018virtue,\u2019\u201d said Guinier, and embrace the idea that justice \u201ccannot be deliberated or debated in the abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That means drawing history into the debate, said the law professor. \u201cJustice has to take into account the historical forces [with] which people are living.\u201d Take reparations for slavery, said Guinier: Virtue could propel us into a national debate on the issue of repaying American blacks for a past suffering that some experts today say is the cause of present suffering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sympathetic to it,\u201d said Sandel of reparations. After all, he said, a conservative\u2019s vaunted \u201cpride in the past\u201d might include the idea of \u201ctaking responsibility\u201d for the past, including its chapters of injustice. (\u201cThe practicalities of this,\u201d countered Ferguson, \u201cmake nonsense of the idea.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>And health care? Virtue belongs in the debate, said Sandel \u2014 and in fact President Obama \u201chas lost the upper hand\u201d by concentrating on the technicalities of national health care instead of its moral imperatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debate about health care could be a debate about justice,\u201d said Guinier. \u201cBut it would be worthwhile to get concrete again\u201d \u2014 by proposing a pilot system of free health clinics, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>There are \u201ccounter moral arguments\u201d within the national health care debate, said Noonan \u2014 including that deep federal expenditures today could saddle future generations with crippling taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps health care requires all three of Sandel\u2019s \u201cvantage points\u201d on understanding justice, said Ferguson: <em>utility,<\/em> since the present system \u201cclearly can\u2019t be defended\u201d and hardly provides the greatest good for the greatest number; consent, since universal coverage is possible without violating individual rights \u2014 \u201cwithout a British-style system of socialism\u201d; and <em>virtue<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n<p>The present American health care system, with its gaps in coverage, \u201ccannot be accepted morally, in a meaningful community, in a real republic,\u201d said Ferguson, turning to Sandel. \u201cIn<em> your<\/em> terms, in terms of virtue, it is not virtuous.\u201d<\/p>\n"}],"innerHTML":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n","innerContent":["\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide\">\n\n","\n\n<\/div>\n"],"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignwide has-global-padding is-content-justification-center is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n\n\n\t\t<p>Justice \u2014 that elusive state of fairness and rectitude in human affairs \u2014 is a big concept to wrap your head around.<\/p>\n<p>But four heads are better than one. Add in the head of English philosopher Jeremy Bentham (preserved in a box at University College London) and \u2014 OK \u2014 you are way ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Four experts in political philosophy, whether as practiced or preached, grappled with the notion of justice this week (Sept. 8) during a public conversation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.<\/p>\n<p>The evening panel was the first public discussion of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gov.harvard.edu\/people\/faculty\/michael-sandel\">Michael Sandel<\/a>\u2019s latest book, \u201cJustice: What\u2019s the Right Thing to Do?\u201d to be published later this month. (Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government. His undergraduate course, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/athome.harvard.edu\/programs\/jmr\/\">Justice<\/a>,\u201d has over the years drawn in 14,000 students.)<\/p>\n<p>Joining Sandel were <a href=\"http:\/\/www.niallferguson.com\/site\/FERG\/Templates\/Home.aspx?pageid=1\">Niall Ferguson<\/a>, Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History, and the William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.law.harvard.edu\/faculty\/directory\/index.html?id=24\">Lani Guinier<\/a>, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School; and author, columnist, and speechwriter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.peggynoonan.com\/biography.php\">Peggy Noonan<\/a>, who this fall is a fellow at the Institute of Politics, which sponsored the panel.<\/p>\n<p>The talking that ensued had the intimate feel of a high-level dinner table conversation, despite the venue (the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum) and the 150 listeners. And like any good conversation, there was play, deliberate one-liners, friendly challenges, and laughter.<\/p>\n<p>Thus the mention of Bentham\u2019s preserved head, which is in secure storage after a series of thefts, the last of which included a football practice. The head \u2014 preserved by desiccation \u2014 was once the anatomical feature that allowed the precocious Bentham (1748-1832) to both study Latin at age 3 and to later develop the utilitarian school of philosophy.<\/p>\n<p><em>Utility<\/em> \u2014 Bentham\u2019s idea that justice is what imparts the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people \u2014 is one of the three basic ways to explain justice, said Sandel.<\/p>\n<p><em>Consent<\/em> is the second, he said, and argued that justice depends on respecting individual rights and freedom.<\/p>\n<p>The third approach to finding the core of justice \u2014 <em>virtue <\/em>\u2014 \u201cseems quaint and ancient\u201d today, said Sandel. But it should be the core idea, he added \u2014 that government and law are vehicles for promoting virtue itself, in the pursuit of a good life and the common good.<\/p>\n<p>The history of political philosophy unfolds around these three ideas, said Sandel, and most of all around the first two, which in contemporary terms are the most familiar theories of justice in Anglo-American political traditions.<\/p>\n<p>The coming book will try to rescue the idea of virtue as an underpinning for justice, explained Sandel. After all, virtue is a quality of mind and behavior that allows public debate and public policy to acknowledge that not all issues are morally neutral.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur most heated public debates are already about virtue,\u201d said Sandel, offering the example of same-sex marriage, couched in a debate over \u201ccompeting conceptions of virtue\u201d \u2014 arguments over what kind of family units \u201care worthy of honor and recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson shot in with a rejoinder \u2014 that putting virtue foremost in the arena of justice only invites power by extremists. \u201cI\u2019m not sure you\u2019re ever going to get me to be enthusiastic about virtue,\u201d he said. \u201cI just see [French Reign of Terror architect] Robespierre every time you use that word. At the bottom of republican virtues you send people to the guillotine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sandel was quick to acknowledge that \u201cimposing virtue\u201d invites in the dark side of fundamentalist view. But though virtue \u201cis dangerous,\u201d he said, \u201cit is also indispensable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s goal, said Sandel, is first to see that such notions of virtue\u2019s dangers are \u201cdisquieted,\u201d and then to see that the idea of virtue is \u201csaved\u201d \u2014 that is, put back where it belongs, in the center of political debate.<\/p>\n<p>Virtue is \u201cavowedly judgmental,\u201d he said \u2014 but it revives the \u201ctradition of the common good\u201d more than it does the specter of the guillotine. \u201cLaw cannot be neutral or nonjudgmental,\u201d said Sandel. \u201cIt leads to an emptiness in our politics.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Noonan, a one-time speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, praised Sandel\u2019s book for its reminder that \u201cwe are mischievous, marvelous, complicated human beings\u201d \u2014 and that justice is one of the conundrums we struggle with.<\/p>\n<p>But for one, she said, \u201cwhenever I hear the word \u2018justice\u2019 I always want it to be coupled with the word \u2018mercy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And though justice is \u201cone of the purposes of politics,\u201d added Noonan, politics and its practitioners will always turn to what works. Noonan said any discussion of political philosophy, including rumination on the ideas of justice and virtue, will always be leavened by the press of real events, in real time. \u201cPolitical figures are not philosopher kings,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Sandel and his three guests took on some other real-world debates that relate to the concept of justice, including health care, reparations for slavery, and the Wall Street bailout.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of virtue belongs in these debates, in some way, said Guinier, a former U.S. civil rights attorney, who in the 1980s directed the voting rights project for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.\u00a0 But it\u2019s important that the idea of virtue at the same time \u201cbe practical and concrete,\u201d she said, chiding Sandel. \u201cJust the word itself bothers me. It sounds elitist and aristocratic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So \u201crethink the term \u2018virtue,\u2019\u201d said Guinier, and embrace the idea that justice \u201ccannot be deliberated or debated in the abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That means drawing history into the debate, said the law professor. \u201cJustice has to take into account the historical forces [with] which people are living.\u201d Take reparations for slavery, said Guinier: Virtue could propel us into a national debate on the issue of repaying American blacks for a past suffering that some experts today say is the cause of present suffering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sympathetic to it,\u201d said Sandel of reparations. After all, he said, a conservative\u2019s vaunted \u201cpride in the past\u201d might include the idea of \u201ctaking responsibility\u201d for the past, including its chapters of injustice. (\u201cThe practicalities of this,\u201d countered Ferguson, \u201cmake nonsense of the idea.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>And health care? Virtue belongs in the debate, said Sandel \u2014 and in fact President Obama \u201chas lost the upper hand\u201d by concentrating on the technicalities of national health care instead of its moral imperatives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe debate about health care could be a debate about justice,\u201d said Guinier. \u201cBut it would be worthwhile to get concrete again\u201d \u2014 by proposing a pilot system of free health clinics, for instance.<\/p>\n<p>There are \u201ccounter moral arguments\u201d within the national health care debate, said Noonan \u2014 including that deep federal expenditures today could saddle future generations with crippling taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps health care requires all three of Sandel\u2019s \u201cvantage points\u201d on understanding justice, said Ferguson: <em>utility,<\/em> since the present system \u201cclearly can\u2019t be defended\u201d and hardly provides the greatest good for the greatest number; consent, since universal coverage is possible without violating individual rights \u2014 \u201cwithout a British-style system of socialism\u201d; and <em>virtue<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n<p>The present American health care system, with its gaps in coverage, \u201ccannot be accepted morally, in a meaningful community, in a real republic,\u201d said Ferguson, turning to Sandel. \u201cIn<em> your<\/em> terms, in terms of virtue, it is not virtuous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n"}},"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":397576,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2024\/11\/ketanji-brown-jackson-returns-to-sandels-justice\/","url_meta":{"origin":21874,"position":0},"title":"Ketanji Brown Jackson? Present!","author":"Christy DeSmith","date":"November 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Supreme Court justice revisits Michael Sandel\u2019s class, which left her with lessons that lasted long beyond her time in it as first-year","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111924_Sandel_Jackson_Marshall_088.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111924_Sandel_Jackson_Marshall_088.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111924_Sandel_Jackson_Marshall_088.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/111924_Sandel_Jackson_Marshall_088.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":160919,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2014\/09\/after-fergusons-fury\/","url_meta":{"origin":21874,"position":1},"title":"After Ferguson\u2019s fury","author":"harvardgazette","date":"September 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A panel convened by HLS professor Charles Ogletree reflected on the broad social, legal, and political issues raised by the protests in Ferguson, Mo., last month.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/091714_ferguson_2012_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/091714_ferguson_2012_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/091714_ferguson_2012_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":314094,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/10\/legal-scholar-warns-of-potential-supreme-court-changes\/","url_meta":{"origin":21874,"position":2},"title":"Do justices really set aside personal beliefs? Nope, legal scholar says","author":"gazettebeckycoleman","date":"October 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Michael Klarman, an expert in constitutional law and constitutional history at Harvard Law School, discusses President Trump\u2019s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.","rel":"","context":"In "Nation & World"","block_context":{"text":"Nation & World","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/nation-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Amy Coney Barrett.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Amy_Coney_Barrett_AP_20288517224408_H_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Amy_Coney_Barrett_AP_20288517224408_H_2500.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Amy_Coney_Barrett_AP_20288517224408_H_2500.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Amy_Coney_Barrett_AP_20288517224408_H_2500.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":170203,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2015\/05\/recognized-as-a-force-for-change\/","url_meta":{"origin":21874,"position":3},"title":"Recognized as a force for change","author":"harvardgazette","date":"May 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, is this year\u2019s Radcliffe Medal recipient. Ginsburg will be honored at a luncheon on May 29 during Radcliffe Day, an annual celebration of Radcliffe.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ginsburg_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ginsburg_605.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/ginsburg_605.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":317155,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/12\/institute-of-politics-23rd-bipartisan-program-announced\/","url_meta":{"origin":21874,"position":4},"title":"Now in session","author":"Lian Parsons","date":"December 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Incoming lawmakers will be briefed on several national challenges and engage in conversation with Harvard\u2019s faculty and other policy experts during four meetings in December.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Group photo.","src":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/class-of-2018.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/class-of-2018.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/class-of-2018.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/class-of-2018.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":113895,"url":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2012\/07\/harvards-institute-of-politics-announces-fall-fellows-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":21874,"position":5},"title":"Harvard’s IOP announces fall fellows","author":"harvardgazette","date":"July 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School has announced its resident and visiting fellowships for this fall.","rel":"","context":"In "Campus & Community"","block_context":{"text":"Campus & Community","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/section\/campus-community\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105622744"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21874"},{"taxonomy":"format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/gazette-formats?post=21874"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=21874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}