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Learn how Rawls's Veil of Ignorance is a hypothetical device to design a just society from scratch. Explore the principles of justice that emerge from behind the Veil, and the challenges and criticisms of this approach.
Learn how philosopher John Rawls used the veil of ignorance to imagine a fair society and propose two principles of justice. Watch a video and read the definition and examples of this ethical concept.
Dec 20, 2008 · For Rawls, a primary reason for a thick veil of ignorance is to enable an unbiased assessment of the justice of existing social and political institutions and of existing desires, preferences, and conceptions of the good that they sustain.
The "veil of ignorance" is a method of determining the morality of political issues proposed in 1971 by American philosopher John Rawls in his "original position" political philosophy. It is based upon the following thought experiment: people making political decisions imagine that they know nothing about the particular talents, abilities ...
Mar 25, 2008 · The most striking feature of the original position is the veil of ignorance, which prevents arbitrary facts about citizens from influencing the agreement among their representatives. As we have seen, Rawls holds that the fact that a citizen is of a certain race, class, and gender is no reason for social institutions to favor or disfavor her.
Aug 9, 2023 · John Rawls was a political philosopher who revived the social contract theory and proposed the veil of ignorance as a way to derive principles of justice. The veil of ignorance is a hypothetical condition where people choose principles of justice without knowing their social position or preferences.
The phrases original position and veil of ignorance were coined by the American philosopher John Rawls, but the thought experiment itself was developed by William Vickrey and John Harsanyi in earlier writings.
