Not For Sale: Should We Ban Selling Blood Donations?

By  by Bennett Gordon
Published on May 29, 2009

There’s a bumper sticker that says, “If America is the land of the free, why is everything for sale?” The implication is that there are some things that should not be sold, no matter what the price. On the Philosophy Bites podcast, Harvard professor Michael Sandel argues that there are goods and services that are corrupted or degraded when sold for money, and therefore should never be up for sale. 

There is a strong argument, according to Sandel, for banning of prostitution, the selling of organs, commercial surrogacy (also known as paid pregnancy), and even blood donations. Sandel says these placing a dollar value may degrade or corrupt the underlying good of these practices. Agree or disagree, Sandel believes that the key is bringing these issues up for public debate and making firm decisions about them.

Source: Philosophy Bites

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