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Michael Sandel

Mick Conefrey

Julian Mercer

Justice: Episode 3: How to Measure Pleasure

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Episode 3

Episode 3: How to Measure Pleasure

How to Measure Pleasure

BBC Four - Justice, How to Measure Pleasure

Comparing the merits of Shakespeare and The Simpsons to explore John Stuart Mill's theory.

Michael Sandel's lecture uses Hamlet and The Simpsons to explore John Stuart Mill's theory that utilitarianism can make room for a distinction between higher and lower pleasures.

In the third in a series of lectures drawn from Harvard professor Michael Sandel's famous undergraduate course on the philosophy of justice, he introduces the British philosopher John Stuart Mill and compares the artistic merits of Shakespeare and The Simpsons. 

Mill argued that seeking the greatest good for the greatest number is compatible with protecting individual rights, and that utilitarianism can make room for a distinction between higher and lower pleasures. Sandel tests Mill's theory that that the higher pleasure is that which is preferred by a well-informed majority by playing video clips from three very different forms of entertainment - Shakespeare's Hamlet, the reality show Fear Factor and The Simpsons. Students debate their own preferences and whether Mill's defense of utilitarianism is successful.

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Michael Sandel gives a series of lectures from his Harvard course in Political Philosophy

Professor Michael Sandel presents a series of lectures from his Harvard undergraduate course in Political Philosophy

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