Bank of England Flagship Seminar - Michael Sandel

Political philosopher, Michael Sandel was in conversation with our chief economist Andy Haldane on Thursday 1 October.

About the event

Date: 1 October 2020 at 4pm

This event was hosted as a webinar and participants submitted questions during the session. A recording of the session is available at the bottom of this webpage.

Michael is a political philosopher at Harvard University and has written extensively on justice, ethics, democracy and markets. His books have been translated into 28 different languages and his “Justice” course at Harvard is the first to be offered free both online and on television, receiving tens of millions of views globally. Michael was named the ‘most influential foreign figure of the year’ by China Newsweek in 2011. Michael hosts a BBC Radio 4 series “The Public Philosopher” which aims to explore the philosophical ideas behind news headlines with audiences from around the world.  

During the session Michael discussed his new book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? which explores how we can restore social solidarity and heal our polarised politics. Michael’s other works, which include What money can’t buy: The Moral Limits of Markets; Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do and Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics, have sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Described as ‘the world’s most relevant living philosopher’ by Newsweek, Michael will discuss his thoughts on attitudes towards success and how we value other human beings.

Michael graduated from Brandeis University and received a doctorate from Oxford University. He served on the President’s Council for Bioethics and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science. 

If you have any queries please contact stakeholderrelations@bankofengland.co.uk.

This page was last updated 31 January 2023