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Michael Sandel

Communitarian · North America · born 1953

American philosopher who argues that a fair society cannot treat people as isolated choosers and must debate what makes a good life.

What it is

Michael Sandel is an American political philosopher. He studied at Brandeis University and, as a Rhodes scholar, at Oxford, and he is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University, where he teaches political philosophy.

He is known for a criticism of the liberal philosopher John Rawls, for books on the moral side of public life, and for a Harvard course called Justice that became the first from the university to be offered freely online and on television.

The main ideas

  • An individualistic picture of the self. Sandel argued that the liberalism of John Rawls rests on an overly individualistic conception of the self. Against it stands the view that human identities are largely shaped by communities and relations that people did not simply choose.
  • Isolated choosers. If selves are shaped by communal ties, a theory that starts from isolated choosers misdescribes how people understand themselves. Sandel and Charles Taylor made this charge against Rawlsian liberalism.
  • A name he did not choose. Sandel is counted among the communitarians, though the name was pinned on such critics by others and was not one they adopted as a group.
  • Public philosophy. Democracy's Discontent (1996) and Public Philosophy (2005) are books on American public life and on morality in politics.
  • Bioethics. He served on the President's Council on Bioethics from 2002 to 2005 and wrote The Case against Perfection (2007) on the ethics of genetic engineering.

What it looks like in practice

Imagine a person who has to decide whether to take a job far from the town where their family has lived for generations. A picture of choosing in which all options are equal and no tie counts for more would find the decision simple. Sandel would say the ties are part of who the person is, and that the question of what is owed to them cannot be set aside in advance. This is an illustration of his line of thought, not a passage from his writing.

Books and moments

  • Liberalism and the Limits of Justice (1982) is the book in which he criticises Rawls.
  • Democracy's Discontent (1996) looks at American public life.
  • Public Philosophy (2005) collects essays on morality and politics.
  • Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? (2009) is a later book on justice.

Questions and criticism

  • Is the individualistic self a fair picture of Rawls? The communitarian reading is disputed, and it is an open question how well the criticism fits what Rawls actually held.
  • Which ties count? Not every unchosen tie is good. If the self is shaped by family, nation and tradition, it is fair to ask how a person can judge which ties deserve loyalty.
  • What follows for politics? If the liberal picture of the self is wrong, it is an open question how much about the shape of a fair society must change, and in which direction.

Close neighbours

The pages on John Rawls, Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre belong to the same argument about the self and the community.

Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 29 October 2026. The sources are listed below.

Who they connect to

Influenced by

  • Alasdair MacIntyre · He took up the view that ethics must start from shared traditions and practices. (scholars disagree about this link)
  • Charles Taylor · He built on Taylor's account of the self as formed by shared life. (scholars disagree about this link)

Reacted against

  • John Rawls · His first book argues that Rawls's picture of the self as a free chooser leaves out what binds us to others.

Other Communitarian thinkers

Sources we used

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