Meritocracy has rightly received increasing attention among scholars in recent years, but relatively little has been written about its history. This article traces the history of the idea back to the eighteenth century when Mandeville, Rousseau, and Kant addressed it. Mandeville and Kant made the case for meritocracy; Rousseau worried about its negative social effects. This article sketches that debate, and I argue that Rousseau’s critiques were insufficiently considered by subsequent champions of meritocracy. I conclude with some discussion of a parallel debate that took place at the same time among the American Founders.
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