To nobody’s surprise, universities are increasingly putting some effort into putting high-quality course lectures on the Web. (Where this ultimately will lead isn’t completely clear.) We’ve already mentioned Leonard Susskind’s lectures on GR at Stanford. Now from Harvard, we have a course on Justice by Michael Sandel. (Via Julian Sanchez.) They really went all-out on the production values, teaming with the local public TV station WGBH; this looks a lot better than what you would get from someone in the middle of the room with a hand-held camera.
The lectures were held in Harvard’s Sanders Theater, which is quite a beautiful space. You get something of an idea what it’s like to be a Harvard undergrad; there are a lot of students in the class. Most professors don’t wear suits and ties, however.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Thanks for posting this Sean. I think it’s a wonderful thing for people to have more access to good educational material. Of course, it’s no real substitute for being personally engaged within the educational process, between you and the professors, and you and your fellow students.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
I was lucky enough to take this class, now over a decade ago. It was provocative, deep, and mind-expanding (despite all the challenges of the very large lecture course format). I think it’s fair to say that Justice played a central role in maturing my own policital views, deeply shaping how I think about equality and rights in a liberal society.
I don’t know that the web video format would be as compelling; so much of the value in a class like this comes from the interactivity, from challenging your views against those of your classmates. It was quite the experience to watch Sandel orchestrate conversations across the sea of a thousand students in Sanders. Yes, the breakout discussion sections had their fair share of posers and show-offs trying to sound smart and score points with the TAs (a frequent problem in Harvard sections…) but in my experience the majority of students there were really interested in honestly struggling with the questions at hand.
I’d say, if you’re interested in watching this, the right way to do it is with a friend or partner, so that you have a chance to exchange thoughts on the material with someone. Even more so than physics, philosophy is a subject that requires really working through the problems to grow understanding. And there are no right answers in the back of the book to check against.
December 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I watched most of this course and found it poor.
December 2nd, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Susskind’s lectures are really great. It’s only unfortunate they don’t continue past intro graduate quantum …
December 2nd, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Another course, with lower production values but maybe more topical punch is this one about climate change. The physics will probably not challenge many readers of Cosmic Variance, but it was interesting to see some of the complexity of climate science.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:08 am
I did follow a lecture by video from Harvard when I was studying management in Great Britain, if I remember well, and I do have a rather positive memory of it.
December 5th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Thanks Sean and I’ll definitely have to look into these lectures. My only hope is that it’s not just another attempt to replace moral values entirely with ethical reasoning. That’s to say to decide what is right without first acknowledging the human capacity for compassion, as it relates to empathy is to be able to be found solely resultant of logical consideration being complete folly.