In this brief video Michael Sandel discusses the effect of monetary markets on civic life as well as a case study. After watching the video answer the three (3) following questions.
1. Discuss Sandel’s point about how the role of money in civic life has a deep impact on democracy and its required social virtues.
2. Discuss what you thought about the case for using money to incentivize reading for elementary school students. Give substantive reasons for how you think Aristotle’s virtue theory would agree or disagree with this monetary incentive (think especially about the purpose of learning to read and whether we value it according to its commercial exchange value or instead its social use value).
3. Think about Aristotle’s distinction between acting according to “internal” or “external” reasons and ask the broader question of whether the very nature of both learning and work itself should be incentivized according to money or whether it might be more appropriately incentivized according to a common good.
