This experience was an online Harvard course on Justice by Micheal Sandel. It was an introduction to moral and political philosophy which is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College. It explores classical and contemporary theories of justice, and applies these theories to contemporary legal and political controversies. It included topics such as income distribution, same-sex marriage, abortion, surrogacy, the role of markets, debates about rights, etc. My goal was to complete the entire course in order to help me explore a new field and get more knowledge on what is Justice. I had aimed to complete learning outcomes 1,2 and 4 through this course.
- LO 1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for personal growth.
Through this process, I learnt that my strength is taking running notes and learning through visual processes. I also learned about my weakness, which is that I can’t pay attention/ concentrate on one thing for a long period of time. Identifying my weakness will now help me find ways to concentrate on one task more and implement them. Knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses are important if they want to improve their performance. Studying your strengths help you maintain them while studying your weaknesses help you improve them.
- LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
This course helped me understand Justice as a concept in a deeper way and it awakened the restlessness of reason. It helped me develop to become a more critical thinker and helped me gain more knowledge. It made me familiar with the concepts and theories like utilitarianism, libertarianism, individualism, etc. In addition, the course also helped me gain new perspectives on situations and taught me how to look at a situation from multiple perspectives.
- LO 4 : Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
It was hard for me to show commitment to this course since it was too long and required a lot of reading. Even though it was interesting, the lectures were 30 minutes long and there were long reading tasks before it, which made it challenging for me to invest time in it. In the starting few months I was not at all regular with it because I couldn’t manage my time properly. So, I had to take out time during the Diwali vacation to complete it.