Needs to be a counter to “the ethic of total retaliation.” about which I post regularly, and maybe Michael Sandel is onto something here, that we could move away, step by step, from the language and concepts and principles and reinforcement of meritocracy. Bit of a communitarianism update from Jean-Jacques Rousseau for the modern age, where progressives could better walk their talk. Very interesting discussion. The analysis about the election near the end is devastating–for Democrats.
[from The New Yorker]
A Political Philosopher on Why Democrats Should Think Differently About Merit
Evan Osnos interviews the political philosopher Michael Sandel, of Harvard University, whose new book, “The Tyranny of Merit,” examines how a bipartisan commitment to meritocracy has undermined ideas of the common good and the dignity of all work.