Veil of Ignorance - Rawls

• All people are biased, so how should we agree on a social contract to determine how the world should work?

• We should imagine we sit behind a veil of ignorance that keeps us from knowing who we are and identifying with our personal circumstances.

  • By being ignorant of our circumstances, we can more objectively consider how societies should operate.

• Primary principles

  • Liberty principle: ensure that people enjoy the maximum freedom posible without intruding on the liberty of others

  • Difference principle: guarantee that everyone has equal opportunity to prosper.

• Fairness is the essence of justice.

• Imagine you would have to choose the laws of society, but before choosing, you forgot everything about yourself.

  • Then you would place rules fair for everyone, not knowing where you would be

  • In choosing the rules behind the veil of ignorance, you would do your best to make sure no one was treated unfairly.

Sources

• Veil of Ignorance - EthicsUnwrapped

• How to Make Fair Laws: John Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance - ThinkingAboutStuff

• El Mundo de Sofía - Jostein Gaarder

• John Rawls: Biography

• POLITICAL THEORY, John Rawls - SchoolOfLife