Michael J Sandel
Biographic Data
| ID | 1223282 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Michael J Sandel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Michael J |
| FAMILY NAME | Sandel |
| SIGNATURE | SANDEL M J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9083-9202 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 209 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1984 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
How Should We Respond to Spatial Injustice in Health Care Organizations
Hostile design is a built environment strategy to discourage unwanted behaviors or limit use by unwanted users in a space. This commentary on a case identifies how hostile design choices perpetuate spatial injustice in both health care settings and the surrounding community and argues that health care organizations have duties to mitigate adverse health consequences of such spatial injustices. This commentary then describes strategies for identif…
Meritocracy, education, and the civic project
Michael Sandel replies to commentaries on his book The Tyranny of Merit, focusing on meritocracy and education, the role of merit and grace in economic discourse, and the resentment that fueled the populist backlash against elites
In Conversation with Michael Sandel on World Philosophy Day 2021 in Tanzania
Michael J. Sandel is a political and moral philosopher on the faculty of Harvard’s Department of Government. On World Philosophy Day 2021, Professor Sandel joined the University of Dar es Salaam by live-streamed video in a short question and answer session to celebrate the UN World Philosophy Day 2021. The questions referred to three of Sandel’s books, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? (2020) What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral …
Remembering Rawls
A few days after the death of John Rawls in 2002, Michael Sandel published this tribute to the author of A Theory of Justice. In particular, he reminds us that Rawls revived political theory by showing that it was possible to argue rationally about justice, rights, and political obligation. According to Rawls’s liberal egalitarianism rights cannot be based on utilitarian principles. This break point inspired a new generation to take up classic qu…
Encountering China
In the West, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel is a thinker of unusual prominence. In China, he's a phenomenon, greeted by vast crowds. China Daily reports that he has acquired a popularity "usually reserved for Hollywood movie stars." China Newsweek declared him the "most influential foreign figure" of the year. In Sandel the Chinese have found a guide through the ethical dilemmas created by the nation's swift embrace of a market economy - a gu…
Populism, liberalism, and democracy
The right-wing populism ascendant today is a symptom of the failure of progressive politics. Central to this failure is the uncritical embrace of a neo-liberal version of globalization that benefits those at the top but leaves ordinary citizens feeling disempowered. Progressive parties are unlikely to win back public support unless they learn from the populist protest that has displaced them —not by replicating its xenophobia and strident nationa…
Market Reasoning as Moral Reasoning
In my book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (2012), I try to show that market values and market reasoning increasingly reach into spheres of life previously governed by nonmarket norms. I argue that this tendency is troubling; putting a price on every human activity erodes certain moral and civic goods worth caring about. We therefore need a public debate about where markets serve the public good and where they don't belong. In t…
Was man für Geld nicht kaufen kann
Justice
The Case against Perfection
Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature-to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why. What is wrong wit…
Justice
Justice brings together in one indispensable volume essential readings on justice and moral reasoning. With readings from major thinkers from the classical era up to the present, the collection provides a thematic overview of the concept of justice. Moreover, Sandel's organization of the readings and his own commentaries allow readers to engage with a variety of pressing contemporary issues. Looking at a host of ethical dilemmas, including affirm…
Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
The notion of possession leads naturally to claims of desert and entitlement. The argument over what people possess, and on what terms, has a direct bearing on the question of what people deserve or are entitled to as a matter of justice. It is to the issues of desert and entitlement that we now turn, to consider the second strand of Nozick’s critique of justice as fairness. Rawls rejects the principles of natural liberty and liberal equality on …
Liberalism and Republicanism
I am grateful to Professor Dagger for his insightful critique. He brings out the continuities and differences between Democracy's Discontent and my earlier work with subtlety and care. He writes in defense of liberalism, but not without sympathy for many of the ideals I invoke in the name of republicanism—civic virtue, encumbered selves, obligations of membership, the formative project. In fact, his republican sympathies are so expansive that I f…
Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
A liberal society seeks not to impose a single way of life, but to leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends. It therefore must govern by principles of justice that do not presuppose any particular vision of the good life. But can any such principles be found? And if not, what are the consequences for justice as a moral and political ideal? These are the questions Michael Sandel takes up in this penetrating critiq…
Morality and the Liberal Ideal
Democracy's Discontent
Liberalism and the Future of Democracy
The American Creed
Democracy's discontent
Despite the success of American life in the last half-century - unprecedented affluence, greater social justice for women and minorities, the end of the Cold War - our politics is rife with discontent. Americans are frustrated with government. We fear we are losing control of the forces that govern our lives, and that the moral fabric of community - from neighborhood to nation - is unraveling around us. What ails democracy in America today, and w…
Political Liberalism
Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration
People defend laws against abortion and homosexual sodomy in two different ways: Some argue that abortion and homosexuality are morally reprehensible and therefore worthy of prohibition; others try to avoid passing judgment on the morality of these practices, and argue instead that, in a democracy, political majorities have the right to embody in law their moral convictions.In a similar way, arguments against antiabortion and antisodomy laws take…
Toward an I & We Paradigm
Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration
In a similar way, arguments against antiabortion and antisodomy laws take two different forms: Some say the laws are unjust because the practices they prohibit are morally permissible, indeed sometimes desirable; others oppose these laws without reference to the moral status of the practices at issue, and argue instead that individuals have a right to choose for themselves whether to engage in them. These two styles of argument might be called, r…
Public Philosophy
In this book, Michael Sandel takes up some of the hotly contested moral and political issues of our time, including affirmative action, assisted suicide, abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, the meaning of toleration and civility, the gap between rich and poor, the role of markets, and the place of religion in public life. He argues that the most prominent ideals in our political life - individual rights and freedom of choice - do not by the…
The Tyranny of Merit
A TLS, GUARDIAN AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR The new bestseller from the acclaimed author of Justice and one of the world's most popular philosophers 'Will help us to heal our divided societies' Sunday Times These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favour of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the promise that can make…
The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self
Populism, liberalism, and democracy
The right-wing populism ascendant today is a symptom of the failure of progressive politics. Central to this failure is the uncritical embrace of a neo-liberal version of globalization that benefits those at the top but leaves ordinary citizens feeling disempowered. Progressive parties are unlikely to win back public support unless they learn from the populist protest that has displaced them —not by replicating its xenophobia and strident nationa…
Market Reasoning as Moral Reasoning
In my book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (2012), I try to show that market values and market reasoning increasingly reach into spheres of life previously governed by nonmarket norms. I argue that this tendency is troubling; putting a price on every human activity erodes certain moral and civic goods worth caring about. We therefore need a public debate about where markets serve the public good and where they don't belong. In t…
Liberalism and Republicanism
I am grateful to Professor Dagger for his insightful critique. He brings out the continuities and differences between Democracy's Discontent and my earlier work with subtlety and care. He writes in defense of liberalism, but not without sympathy for many of the ideals I invoke in the name of republicanism—civic virtue, encumbered selves, obligations of membership, the formative project. In fact, his republican sympathies are so expansive that I f…
The American Creed
Toward an I & We Paradigm
The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self
Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration
People defend laws against abortion and homosexual sodomy in two different ways: Some argue that abortion and homosexuality are morally reprehensible and therefore worthy of prohibition; others try to avoid passing judgment on the morality of these practices, and argue instead that, in a democracy, political majorities have the right to embody in law their moral convictions.In a similar way, arguments against antiabortion and antisodomy laws take…
Toward an I & We Paradigm
Political Liberalism
The American Creed
Democracy's discontent
Despite the success of American life in the last half-century - unprecedented affluence, greater social justice for women and minorities, the end of the Cold War - our politics is rife with discontent. Americans are frustrated with government. We fear we are losing control of the forces that govern our lives, and that the moral fabric of community - from neighborhood to nation - is unraveling around us. What ails democracy in America today, and w…
Liberalism and the Future of Democracy
Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
A liberal society seeks not to impose a single way of life, but to leave its citizens as free as possible to choose their own values and ends. It therefore must govern by principles of justice that do not presuppose any particular vision of the good life. But can any such principles be found? And if not, what are the consequences for justice as a moral and political ideal? These are the questions Michael Sandel takes up in this penetrating critiq…
Morality and the Liberal Ideal
Democracy's Discontent
Liberalism and Republicanism
I am grateful to Professor Dagger for his insightful critique. He brings out the continuities and differences between Democracy's Discontent and my earlier work with subtlety and care. He writes in defense of liberalism, but not without sympathy for many of the ideals I invoke in the name of republicanism—civic virtue, encumbered selves, obligations of membership, the formative project. In fact, his republican sympathies are so expansive that I f…
Liberalism and the Limits of Justice
The notion of possession leads naturally to claims of desert and entitlement. The argument over what people possess, and on what terms, has a direct bearing on the question of what people deserve or are entitled to as a matter of justice. It is to the issues of desert and entitlement that we now turn, to consider the second strand of Nozick’s critique of justice as fairness. Rawls rejects the principles of natural liberty and liberal equality on …
The Case against Perfection
Breakthroughs in genetics present us with a promise and a predicament. The promise is that we will soon be able to treat and prevent a host of debilitating diseases. The predicament is that our newfound genetic knowledge may enable us to manipulate our nature-to enhance our genetic traits and those of our children. Although most people find at least some forms of genetic engineering disquieting, it is not easy to articulate why. What is wrong wit…
Justice
Justice brings together in one indispensable volume essential readings on justice and moral reasoning. With readings from major thinkers from the classical era up to the present, the collection provides a thematic overview of the concept of justice. Moreover, Sandel's organization of the readings and his own commentaries allow readers to engage with a variety of pressing contemporary issues. Looking at a host of ethical dilemmas, including affirm…
Justice
Was man für Geld nicht kaufen kann
Market Reasoning as Moral Reasoning
In my book What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (2012), I try to show that market values and market reasoning increasingly reach into spheres of life previously governed by nonmarket norms. I argue that this tendency is troubling; putting a price on every human activity erodes certain moral and civic goods worth caring about. We therefore need a public debate about where markets serve the public good and where they don't belong. In t…
Encountering China
In the West, Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel is a thinker of unusual prominence. In China, he's a phenomenon, greeted by vast crowds. China Daily reports that he has acquired a popularity "usually reserved for Hollywood movie stars." China Newsweek declared him the "most influential foreign figure" of the year. In Sandel the Chinese have found a guide through the ethical dilemmas created by the nation's swift embrace of a market economy - a gu…
Populism, liberalism, and democracy
The right-wing populism ascendant today is a symptom of the failure of progressive politics. Central to this failure is the uncritical embrace of a neo-liberal version of globalization that benefits those at the top but leaves ordinary citizens feeling disempowered. Progressive parties are unlikely to win back public support unless they learn from the populist protest that has displaced them —not by replicating its xenophobia and strident nationa…
Meritocracy, education, and the civic project
Michael Sandel replies to commentaries on his book The Tyranny of Merit, focusing on meritocracy and education, the role of merit and grace in economic discourse, and the resentment that fueled the populist backlash against elites
In Conversation with Michael Sandel on World Philosophy Day 2021 in Tanzania
Michael J. Sandel is a political and moral philosopher on the faculty of Harvard’s Department of Government. On World Philosophy Day 2021, Professor Sandel joined the University of Dar es Salaam by live-streamed video in a short question and answer session to celebrate the UN World Philosophy Day 2021. The questions referred to three of Sandel’s books, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? (2020) What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral …
Remembering Rawls
A few days after the death of John Rawls in 2002, Michael Sandel published this tribute to the author of A Theory of Justice. In particular, he reminds us that Rawls revived political theory by showing that it was possible to argue rationally about justice, rights, and political obligation. According to Rawls’s liberal egalitarianism rights cannot be based on utilitarian principles. This break point inspired a new generation to take up classic qu…
Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration
In a similar way, arguments against antiabortion and antisodomy laws take two different forms: Some say the laws are unjust because the practices they prohibit are morally permissible, indeed sometimes desirable; others oppose these laws without reference to the moral status of the practices at issue, and argue instead that individuals have a right to choose for themselves whether to engage in them. These two styles of argument might be called, r…
Public Philosophy
In this book, Michael Sandel takes up some of the hotly contested moral and political issues of our time, including affirmative action, assisted suicide, abortion, gay rights, stem cell research, the meaning of toleration and civility, the gap between rich and poor, the role of markets, and the place of religion in public life. He argues that the most prominent ideals in our political life - individual rights and freedom of choice - do not by the…
The Tyranny of Merit
A TLS, GUARDIAN AND NEW STATESMAN BOOK OF THE YEAR The new bestseller from the acclaimed author of Justice and one of the world's most popular philosophers 'Will help us to heal our divided societies' Sunday Times These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favour of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the promise that can make…
Political science (23 works) · Law (21 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Politics (17 works) · Political Philosophy and Ethics (16 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Law and economics (11 works) · Liberalism (10 works) · Democracy (7 works) · Economic Justice (7 works)