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World-renowned philosopher elevates public discourse and illuminates ethical and civic questions of our time
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Berggruen Institute today named political philosopher Michael Sandel as the 2025 Laureate of the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture. One of the world’s leading thinkers and public intellectuals, Sandel has profoundly impacted how we think about justice, ethics, markets, and democracy today. The $1 million award is given annually to individuals whose ideas shape human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world.
Portrait of Professor Michael Sandel. Photo: Stephanie Mitchell.
“Professor Sandel’s work has left a profound mark on the global intellectual landscape. His critiques of neoliberalism, meritocratic ideology, and populism speak to the most urgent questions of our time,” said Yuk Hui, Chair of the Berggruen Prize Jury. Other jury members include Roger Ames, Antonio Damasio, Francis Fukuyama, Siri Hustvedt, Carlo Rovelli, and Elif Shafak.
A graduate of Brandeis University, Sandel received his doctorate in 1981 from Balliol College, University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar under philosopher Charles Taylor. He has had a decades-long career at Harvard University where he currently serves as the Anne T. and Robert M. Professor of Government. Notably, his course “Justice” was the first to be made freely available online and on television, reaching 40 million viewers. His books have been widely translated and include lauded publications such as Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? (2009), The Tyranny of Merit (2020), and Equality: What It Means and Why It Matters, co-authored with Thomas Piketty (2025).
“Michael Sandel’s significant body of work is deserving of the Berggruen Institute’s lifetime achievement award recognizing intellectual thought of the highest caliber and global impact,” said Nicolas Berggruen, Chairman and Founder of the Berggruen Institute. “Given our world in flux, his illumination of what it means to be a good human and his infusion of ethics and reasoning into public discourse are necessary.”
Michael Sandel was selected for the Berggruen Prize from hundreds of nominees in the fields of philosophy, social science, economics, human rights, physics, literature, and beyond, and joins an esteemed cohort of Laureates, including Patricia Hill Collins (2023), Kojin Karatani (2022), Peter Singer (2021), Paul Farmer (2020), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2019), Martha C. Nussbaum (2018), Onora O’Neill (2017), and Charles Taylor (2016). Sandel will receive the prize in spring 2026 at a celebration in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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