PANEL 14 / RETHINKING THE ROLE OF DESERT AND MERIT IN THEORIES OF JUSTICE
CONVENOR: PEDRO MIGUEL MARTINS
All enquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
The seminal release of Michael Sandel's "The Tyranny of Merit" in 2020 has helped to provide unprecedented attention towards a subject that had lingered in the purview of philosophical inquiry for decades. Inextricably linked to reflections on morality and justice, the concept of desert, or merit, assumes a challenging role, serving either as a cornerstone principle or as a point of contention demanding critical examination.
Despite the anti-meritocratic legacy of Rawls' theory of justice, a trend echoed by many other currents of contemporary political philosophy, research on this subject has bourgeoned at an exponential rate in the field of moral and political philosophy and has expanded its influence into empirical disciplines: economics, psychology, sociology, history and cultural studies.
While historical philosophical traditions have venerated desert-based conceptions of justice, naturally quite present today in some influential intuitions, despite opposition from a significant faction of contemporary political and moral philosophers, the current landscape bears witness to both a normative rehabilitation of desert and merit but also to a polarization between boldly meritocratic and anti-meritocratic perspectives.
Meritocratic conceptions of justice, insofar as they reflect everyday intuitions and popular discourse, pose a challenge not only to the various egalitarian conceptions but also to libertarian conceptions. Moreover, meritocratic, or arguably less so, practices of certain societies, due to the deep inequalities they generate, raise questions not only of social justice but also of democratic theory, as Sandel's renowned book underscores.
In light of this context, it is understandable that philosophical reflection on merit, desert and justice has attained unprecedented depth evidenced by a recent abundant and specialized bibliographic production revealing various lines of analysis and inquiry.
We hereby point out some tentative topics relevant to the theme of this panel:
Key Themes and Discussion Topics:
- Conceptual distinction between merit and desert and the implications of this distinction for theories of justice.
- Merit, desert and theories of distributive and/or retributive justice.
- Rethinking the three-part structure underlying the conceptual framework of desert and merit (“the structure of desert/ merit”).
-Implications of metaphysical issues about the freedom of the will in the evaluation of desert-based theories of justice.
- Is desert a backwards-looking or a forward-looking concept?
- Is desert a non-comparative or comparative notion?
- Is desert a pre-institutional or institutional notion?
- Pluralism or monism regarding the basis of desert and/or merit.
-To what extent can empirical research (e.g. in economics, psychology,
education, etc) shed light on normative issues about merit and desert?
- Practical applications of philosophical and normative research on merit and desert in the design of public policies (e.g. wage policies, education policies, etc.).
- Rethinking the concept and ideology of meritocracy and its implications for contemporary theories of justice and democracy.
We strongly encourage junior and senior researchers already committed to this area to participate and present their contributions to the clarification and discussion of these and many other related topics.
All enquiries about the panel should be sent to [email protected]
The seminal release of Michael Sandel's "The Tyranny of Merit" in 2020 has helped to provide unprecedented attention towards a subject that had lingered in the purview of philosophical inquiry for decades. Inextricably linked to reflections on morality and justice, the concept of desert, or merit, assumes a challenging role, serving either as a cornerstone principle or as a point of contention demanding critical examination.
Despite the anti-meritocratic legacy of Rawls' theory of justice, a trend echoed by many other currents of contemporary political philosophy, research on this subject has bourgeoned at an exponential rate in the field of moral and political philosophy and has expanded its influence into empirical disciplines: economics, psychology, sociology, history and cultural studies.
While historical philosophical traditions have venerated desert-based conceptions of justice, naturally quite present today in some influential intuitions, despite opposition from a significant faction of contemporary political and moral philosophers, the current landscape bears witness to both a normative rehabilitation of desert and merit but also to a polarization between boldly meritocratic and anti-meritocratic perspectives.
Meritocratic conceptions of justice, insofar as they reflect everyday intuitions and popular discourse, pose a challenge not only to the various egalitarian conceptions but also to libertarian conceptions. Moreover, meritocratic, or arguably less so, practices of certain societies, due to the deep inequalities they generate, raise questions not only of social justice but also of democratic theory, as Sandel's renowned book underscores.
In light of this context, it is understandable that philosophical reflection on merit, desert and justice has attained unprecedented depth evidenced by a recent abundant and specialized bibliographic production revealing various lines of analysis and inquiry.
We hereby point out some tentative topics relevant to the theme of this panel:
Key Themes and Discussion Topics:
- Conceptual distinction between merit and desert and the implications of this distinction for theories of justice.
- Merit, desert and theories of distributive and/or retributive justice.
- Rethinking the three-part structure underlying the conceptual framework of desert and merit (“the structure of desert/ merit”).
-Implications of metaphysical issues about the freedom of the will in the evaluation of desert-based theories of justice.
- Is desert a backwards-looking or a forward-looking concept?
- Is desert a non-comparative or comparative notion?
- Is desert a pre-institutional or institutional notion?
- Pluralism or monism regarding the basis of desert and/or merit.
-To what extent can empirical research (e.g. in economics, psychology,
education, etc) shed light on normative issues about merit and desert?
- Practical applications of philosophical and normative research on merit and desert in the design of public policies (e.g. wage policies, education policies, etc.).
- Rethinking the concept and ideology of meritocracy and its implications for contemporary theories of justice and democracy.
We strongly encourage junior and senior researchers already committed to this area to participate and present their contributions to the clarification and discussion of these and many other related topics.