John Rawls--Modern Political Philosophy--Lecture 1 (audio only)

This is one of twenty-three lectures given by Professor John Rawls to students in his course Phil 171: Modern Political Philosophy. These lectures were delivered at Harvard University in the spring semester of 1984.
Special thanks to Mardy Rawls for permission to make these taped lectures available to the public.

[@bbaranowify]

This is so wonderful! I am writing a dissertation on Rawls and while I have looked at many of his lectures--published and unpublished--it is great to hear his voice and feel his presence. Thank you for doing this.

[@baillar100]

Just delighted to have discovered these. I have studied Rawls extensively and it is a pleasure to hear these lectures.

[@solknar7819]

The reading of a theory of justice radically altered my (still poor and incomplete) understanding of political philosophy. I am so glad being able for the first time to hear the voice of a man that I respect like few (if none) others. Thanks you so much!!!!

[@shitabdaiyanakash2046]

This is fantastic. I just started reading A Theory of Justice and plan to cover further into Rawlsian tradition. The lectures are heartwarming and helps one enjoy what can be a difficult reading list. Thanks !

[@brandtvansoolen5881]

Thank you so much for sharing these lectures. As a student of Philosophy with a minor in Political Science this will help me tremendously. I have taken various political theory classes, but only one ever addressed Rawls "Theory of Justice". In that class, the Professor did a fine job of explaining the overarching "big" idea of Rawls' system of distributive justice but, it was like drinking from a fire hose. In this one lecture alone (the first one) I already sense a firmer understanding of the fundamental ideas of justice as fairness, and the role of the principles of justice. Thank you!

[@harvardphilosophydepartmen8979]

Brandt van Soolen You are very welcome. We are glad to make them available to people and look forward to adding more in the near future. Our media services department is in the process of digitizing the remaining lectures from Rawls' 1984 course (11 more lectures); after that, they will digitize another 22 lectures from 1983.

[@vvop]

Thank you for uploading these. Listening to the masters is always instructive and humbling at the same time. Is there any chance of uploading the handouts too, or at least a list of the required readings?

[@qwaswesd]

Dear Harvard Philosophy Department, thank you so much for uploading the whole lecture series! Would it also be possible to get the syllabus for the course? Regards!

[@dougbamford]

I think these lectures would make a very interesting podcast. Does anyone know if the audio files are available anywhere?

[@JesseMaurais]

Doug Bamford You can convert the flash video here to an mp3 on one of many websites. I'm doing it now to put the lectures on my phone.

[@dougbamford]

Thanks Jesse, yes I found one already - should have removed my question.

[@severusthegreatest]

Doug Bamford www. youtube-mp3. org/

[@harvardphilosophydepartmen8979]

Doug Bamford Hi Doug! I will be uploading mp3 files to Soundcloud soon. Our media services people are in the process of digitizing the remaining lectures from this course and from Rawls's 1983 version of the course. Once they are ready (in the next few weeks), I will upload them both here and on Soundcloud.

[@dougbamford]

That sounds great. Thanks for all your work on this.

[@malamati007]

Are his handouts available online?

[@ChannelMath]

yay!