Michael Sandel The lost art of democratic debate失落的民主辩论艺术_图文.doc

Michael Sandel: The lost art of democratic debate One thing the world needs, one thing this country desperately needs is a better way of conducting our political debates. We need to rediscover the lost art of democratic argument. (Applause If you think about the arguments we have, most of the time it's shouting matches on cable television, ideological food fights on the floor of Congress. I have a suggestion. Look at all the arguments we have these days over health care, over bonuses and bailouts on Wall Street, over the gap between rich and poor, over affirmative action and same-sex marriage. Lying just beneath the surface of those arguments, with passions raging on all sides, are big questions of moral philosophy, big questions of justice. But we too rarely articulate and defend and argue about those big moral questions in our politics. So what I would like to do today is have something of a discussion. First, let me take a famous philosopher who wrote about those questions of justice and morality, give you a very short lecture on Aristotle of ancient Athens, Aristotle's theory of justice, and then have a discussion here to see whether Aristotle's ideas actually inform the way we think and argue about questions today. So, are you ready for the lecture? According to Aristotle, justice means giving people what they deserve. That's it; that's the lecture. (Laughter Now, you may say, well, that's obvious enough. The real questions begin when it comes to arguing about who deserves what and why. Take the example of flutes. Suppose we're distributing flutes. Who should get the best ones? Let's see what people -- What would you say? Who should get the best flute? You can just call it out. (Audience: Random. Michael Sandel: At random. You would do it by lottery. Or by the first person to rush into the hall to get them. Who else? (Audience: The best flute players. 這個世界所必要的一件東西 這國家所急需的 是一個更好的 論辯政治的方式 我們需要重新發現 早已失傳的民主論辯的技藝 （掌聲） 想想我們現今的主要辯論， 大多數時間，它們都是 有線電視頻道上的叫囂比賽 國會上演的意識形態 大