Michael Sandel

discusses

What Money Can't Buy:
The Moral Limits of Markets

$5 tickets are on sale now

This event includes a book signing

Date

Apr
23
Monday
April 23, 2012
7:00 PM ET

Location

First Parish Church
1446 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

Harvard Book Store, the Mahindra Humanities Center, the Tobin Project, and the Center for American Political Studies are delighted to welcome Harvard professor and political philosopher MICHAEL SANDEL for a discussion of his new book, What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets.

Should we pay children to read books or to get good grades? Should we allow corporations to pay for the right to pollute the atmosphere? Is it ethical to pay people to test risky new drugs or to donate their organs? What about hiring mercenaries to fight our wars? Auctioning admission to elite universities? Selling citizenship to immigrants willing to pay? 

In What Money Can’t Buy, Michael J. Sandel takes on one of the biggest ethical questions of our time: Is there something wrong with a world in which everything is for sale? If so, how can we prevent market values from reaching into spheres of life where they don’t belong? What are the moral limits of markets? 

In recent decades, market values have crowded out nonmarket norms in almost every aspect of life—medicine, education, government, law, art, sports, even family life and personal relations. Without quite realizing it, Sandel argues, we have drifted from having a market economy to being a market society. Is this where we want to be? 

In his New York Times bestseller Justice, Sandel showed himself to be a master at illuminating, with clarity and verve, the hard moral questions we confront in our everyday lives. Now, in What Money Can’t Buy, he provokes an essential discussion that we, in our market-driven age, need to have: What is the proper role of markets in a democratic society—and how can we protect the moral and civic goods that markets don’t honor and that money can’t buy?

Visit our co-sponsors:

The Tobin Project

The Mahindra Humanities Center

Harvard Center for American Political Studies

Harvard University has reserved a limited number of free tickets for Harvard students. These tickets grant one entrance, do not count as a $5 book coupon, and are limited to one per person. Please present your Harvard I.D. at Harvard Book Store to claim your ticket. Thank you!

MHCH

Michael J. Sandel
Michael J. Sandel

Michael J. Sandel

Michael J. Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard University. His books What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets and Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? were international best sellers and have been translated into 27 languages. Sandel’s legendary course “Justice” was the first Harvard course to be made freely available online and has been viewed by tens of millions. His BBC series “The Public Philosopher” explores the philosophical ideas lying behind the headlines with participants from around the world.

Online ticket sales have now ended, but tickets can still be purchased at Harvard Book Store and by phone at 617-661-1515 until 5pm the day of the event. Remaining tickets will be on sale at the door of the First Parish Church when we open doors at about 6:30.

$5 tickets are also coupons good for $5 off a purchase at events or at Harvard Book Store. Coupons expire 30 days after the event, and cannot be used for online purchases, event tickets, or gift certificates. Please note that your ticket guarantees you a seat until five minutes before an event begins.

First Parish Church
1446 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes

As you exit the station, cross Mass. Ave. and look for the newsstand called Crimson Corner. Turn right and proceed north along Mass. Ave. going toward the Cambridge Common. You will pass the Harvard Coop, Bank of America, and CVS. The First Parish Church is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Church St. Please enter through the front door of the church.

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