Harvard Professor Becomes Rock Star in Korea
Has anyone read this guy’s books and if so is it worth reading? The Koreans apparently think so:
Political philosopher Michael Sandel is something of a rock star in South Korea, where he has spoken before 15,000 people in a packed amphitheater and thrown out the first pitch at a professional baseball game.
Now, the Harvard University professor can add honorary citizen of Seoul to his list of credentials.
On Friday, Mayor Park Won-soon made it official at a ceremony in which Mr. Sandel spoke before 500 municipal workers on the topic of “Justice, Markets and the Good Society.”
That’s the latest spinoff of an intellectual thread that Mr. Sandel has turned into a popular following, built around his well-known “Justice” undergraduate class at Harvard. The “Justice” class has been broadcast online and on public television and spun out in recent years into a widely-translated best-selling book, as well as a television and radio series.
The Korean translations of his books have been big hits in South Korea, and helped catapult him to celebrity status when he came through town in 2012 for a book tour. [The Wall Street Journal – Korea Real Time]
You can read more at the link.
He’s a political philosopher. Here is his main message at a TED Talk.
JoeC, I just listened to the TED talk and I don’t see what the big deal with this guy is? He just seems highly idealistic by making claims such as rich people should not be able to buy political influence and society should not have to resort to paying students to read books. Seems like common sense to me, but the real world doesn’t operate like that.