(Detailed)Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?

Sandel (2020) in Tyranny of Merit:  What’s Become of the Common Good? (and the 2021 paperback/Kindle version Finding the Common Good, the page numbers herein from that Kindle version)  is looking for what makes for a just society, looking at aristocracy and meritocracy, and other alternatives like free market liberalism and egalitarian (welfare state) liberalism, and especially looking at how a system addresses inequality.  It is implicitly understood that meritocracy is a main feature of liberalism which grew out of the Enlightenment --- replacing the aristocracies that ruled Europe for centuries --- as it especially took hold in the 1600s-1700s in Europe.  A version of a meritocratic liberalism was put into play in the United States with the 1787 Constitution. It is about the search for what makes for a society with justice, a just society, and the role of meritocracy. (Note: A Substack (much shorter, like 4-5 pages) is also available. Also, an 8-10 page version is available here on the Blog... or, if you like all the details, as in this 40+ page version, read on!).

DIT (Dual Interest Theory) makes clear a just society is one with optimal inequality, which arises with sufficient cognitive and affective empathy, brought into play with moral judgment, to tamp down the arrogance of self-love as represented in ego-based, merit-oriented self-interest.  Said arrogance is especially present in meritocracy, especially in the free-market laissez version of it, but also in ample supply in aristocracy.  DIT clarifies that ego-based self-interest focused exclusively on individual good which is especially in play in meritocratic systems must be tempered by the shared with the other-interest represented in the common good.  DIT has a placeholder for the common good, which is not given enough consideration in either the aristocratic or the meritocratic system. Ultimately, it comes down to Empathy Merit... as in empathy-with the other tempering the meritocracy in play.