The Case Against Perfection: Michael J. Sandel

It was a great honor for RBS to have Michael J. Sandel, an American political philosopher, a Harvard professor, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, deliver a speech entitled The Case against Perfection: Just War between Science and Humanity on December 11th. Sandel is best known for the Harvard course “Justice”, which is available to view online (http://www.justiceharvard.org), and award-winning books such as Justice and What Money Can’t Buy.

Whoever has viewed his “Justice” series must be deeply impressed by the intensive interaction and heated debate during the course, which Professor Sandel brought to Renmin University that day. He kicked off the speech by raising a question “Do people have the right to choose the sex of their children?” among over 1,000 audience present at the event, almost half of whom supported this claim. He then posed another question “Besides sex, what about height, IQ and other characteristics of a child? Do parents have the right to interfere prematurely?”

Amid vehement controversies around these topics, Sandel has already given his own answers in his new book The Case against Perfection, in which he discourages parents from adopting technical means to create a perfect child, for it will ruin the “unconditional love” parents have and the relationships with their children. What is viewed as “perfect” is a preconceived concept. We should embrace a more equal and tolerant society that appreciates the diversity of individuals rather than follow the preconceptions. Such excessive control over nature is dangerous and extremely destructive.

During the last Q&A session, Professor Sandel talked about differe