MICHA

Abstract

This paper examines the ontological limitations of Michael Sandel’s critique of meritocracy, focusing on his work The Tyranny of Merit. It argues that, although Sandel rejects a strong conception of agency—one that holds individuals fully responsible for their own success—he does not break with a more restricted view, in which some degree of individual effort remains under the agent’s control and justifies a certain level of desert. The article contends that this residual notion undermines the effectiveness of Sandel’s proposals by allowing for the continued, albeit softened, presence of the moral and political problems characteristic of meritocracy.