Public philosophy : essays on morality in politics / Michael J. Sandel.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [263]-277) and index.

I: American civic life -- America's search for a public philosophy -- Beyond individualism: Democrats and community -- The politics of easy virtue -- Big ideas -- The problem with civility -- Impeachment--then and now -- Robert F. Kennedy's promise -- II: Moral and political arguments -- Against state lotteries -- Commercials in the classroom -- Branding the public realm -- Sports and civic identity -- History for sale -- The market for merit -- Should we buy the right to pollute? -- Honor and resentment -- Arguing affirmative action -- Should victims have a say in sentencing? -- Clinton and Kant on lying -- Is there a right to assisted suicide? -- Embryo ethics: the moral logic of stem cell research -- Moral argument and liberal toleration: abortion and homosexuality -- III: Liberalism, pluralism, and community -- Morality and the liberal ideal -- The procedural republic and the unencumbered self -- Justice as membership -- The peril of extinction -- Dewey's liberalism and ours -- Mastery and Hubris in Judaism: what's wrong with playing God? -- Political liberalism -- Remembering Rawls -- The limits of communitarianism.