Michael Sandel
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
"The communitarian position has been stated most plainly by Alasdair MacIntyre and Michael Sandel. MacIntyre engages the whole liberal, Kantian moral tradition, in which the account of justice has a prominent place. There is no categorical imperative, at least unless there is a categorical end to be achieved — the heteronomy that Kant rejected."--Natural Law and Justice (1987) by Lloyd L. Weinreb, p. 251-52 |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Michael J. Sandel (born 1953) is an American political philosopher.
He is known for his critique of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice in his first book, Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982).
Philosophical views
Sandel subscribes to a certain version of communitarianism (although he is uncomfortable with the label), and in this vein he is perhaps best known for his critique of John Rawls' A Theory of Justice. Rawls' argument depends on the assumption of the veil of ignorance, which he claims allows us to become "unencumbered selves".
Sandel's view is that we are by nature encumbered to an extent that makes it impossible even in the hypothetical to have such a veil. Some examples of such ties are those with our families, which we do not make by conscious choice but are born with, already attached. Because they are not consciously acquired, it is impossible to separate oneself from such ties. Sandel believes that only a less-restrictive, looser version of the veil of ignorance should be postulated. Criticism such as Sandel's inspired Rawls to subsequently argue that his theory of justice was not a "metaphysical" theory but a "political" one, a basis on which an overriding consensus could be formed among individuals and groups with many different moral and political views.
See also
Publications
- Democracy's Discontent : America in Search of a Public Philosophy. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 1998
- The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 2007
- Justice: A Reader. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. 2007. ISBN 9780195335125.
- Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2010. ISBN 9780374532505.
- What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (2012)
- The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? (2020)
