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Recommended: The veil of ignorance
John Rawl believed that all goods and services should be distributed equally unless unequally doing so would be beneficial to all. The Veil of Ignorance is the ignorance of one’s characteristics, such as gender, intelligence or talents. The first principle of a system designed under the veil of ignorance is that “each person is permitted the maximum amount of basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others”. The second is that inequalities can only be allowed if it benefits everyone. (a) We at BP will work every day to learn new ways to prevent oil spills and continue research on the best way to clean up oil spills. Every employee will work carefully in the field to avoid an accidental spill and in the event that it does occur we
Imagine that rational actor X has been charged with the responsibility of developing the guiding principles for a totaly new type of social contract for today’s society. Is there a way for actor X to perform this task in a truly equitable manner? Consider that “with respect to any complex mater of deep human importance there is n o ‘innocent eye’ —no way of seeing the world that is entirely neutral and free of cultural shaping.” 1 As an entrenched member of a particular culture the complete removal of personal biases and prejudices from within the human psyche is not possible; nonetheless, it would of course be necessary to take steps to at least minimize their effects. In his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice , John Rawls suggests that exactly this type of reduction is possible by figuratively stepping behind a ‘veil of ignorance’ int o what he labels the ‘original position’ —this paper is an introduction to the contractarian thinking of John Rawls and its relation to the original position as expressed in his 1971 book, A Theory of Justice.
Less than a year ago people were outraged about the huge event that was headlining in the news everywhere. This incident was called the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill, and this spill kept many frightened and waiting for answers on the future. The BP oil spill significantly changed many lives, cost an abundance of money, and occurred because people were being careless on the job and not as aware as they should have been.
Veil of ignorance is how a person defines what topics are ethically and morally right. Some examples of some controversial issues are racism, slavery, and immigration laws. Rawl states the idea of using moral desert will not work because each individual has their own morals, and can create a very broad range of understanding of what is right and wrong in society. It also in composes the idea that rules are made for societies without taking into consideration the peoples struggles, issues, and adversity. Along with what these individuals living in these communities capable of accomplishing, it does not take into consideration the ambitions and attributes that they poses. It does not allow people to decide what rankings they will hold in their societies.
In Rawls’ Essay, we can point out contemporary and historical issues to his main points. Original Position is when there is an “injustice of a law is not a sufficient ground for not complying with it any more than the legal validity of legislation is always sufficient to require obedience to it” (Rawls 348). An example of both original position and veil of ignorance would be slavery, because they considered slaves to be property and had no equal rights or protection as others. Original Position is connected to slavery, people became slaves by being captured, purchased, or by birth. Slaves were born with “equal powers and rights” and didn’t know their past, present, or future (Rawls 347). Veil of Ignorance proves that slaves “do not know their
Philosopher John Rawls established his understanding of justice as fairness in his work, A Theory of Justice. Borrowing elements from Immaneul Kant and utilitarian philosophy, Rawls constructed and detailed a method for the moral evaluation of social and political issues. Rawls presented the question; just how would one develop an entirely new social contract for today's society? And do so fairly? He acknowledged the fact that you couldn't rid your self of biases, but instead you could choose to attempt to minimize them. Enter his ideas of the 'Original Position' and the 'Veil of Ignorance'.
If I could wave a magic wand and apply Rawls’ veil of ignorance on a group in society, I would choose lawmakers. Applying Rawls’ veil of ignorance to this group is the best strategy to live out Rawls’ theory by helping the most people become equal. It is so crucial that the people who are ultimately governing our society are doing so in the best interests of all people. As a result, I think that the laws being made would be less targeted at groups of people but rather society as a whole.
Therefore, no one is really capable of gaining wealth. Rawls' Difference Principle gives citizens a chance to gain wealth and a better lifestyle. Any system that promotes a better standard of living is the better one in my book.
At the point when a procedure or result does not comport with any of Rawls' standards, we can presume that it is not predictable with social justice. That is, something is not predictable with Rawls' origination of social justice in the event that it intervenes with any individual's faulty cases to equivalent fundamental freedoms (the "equivalent freedoms rule"); or if imbalances in the public eye are not appended to business locales and positions open to all under states of reasonable balance of chance (the "equivalent open door guideline"); or if disparities in the public arena are not organized to the best banquet of the minimum advantaged parts of society (the "distinction
Getting back to Rawls Theory of Justice, when making a system Rawls wants us to start from the original position, which means everyone is equal. From this position, we can than choose a system that provides for those at the bottom of society. We should make rules and regulations behind the veil of ignorance. This allows us to make rules without knowing the position we are in society. People in the original position will choose conservatively, and not gamble on possibly getting the most once the veil of ignorance is lifted. The veil of ignorance analogy is crucial in making moral decision in our society
Basically, Rawls’ theory through the original position suggests that when people are asked to choose between principles, they would decide based off the circumstances of choice not based off how someone looks or fits into society’s box of expectations. On page 33, Lebacqz explains that the original position pushes the parties to choose fairly based off the circumstances with no bias. On page 34, Lebacqz exclaims that the parties that fall under the veil of ignorance choose principals even though they lack certain knowledge and could come off as impartial/unfair. If we apply this theory to our society, our society has conditioned us to fall under the veil of ignorance by creating a hierarchy and separating people into two categories “them” and
There are some exclusions to the principle like rights to own property and freedom of contract. The second is social and economical inequalities are to be arranged so the lease advantaged members of society get the greatest benefits this could be defined as the difference principle, offices and positions are open to all no matter social standing, this is fair equality of opportunity. The difference principle would only allow inequalities in distribution of goods if those benefit the worst off members. This leads me to discuss the areas of controversy in Rawls theory. The issues are as follows: first it is nearly impossible for people to be covered by the veil of ignorance in the original position to formulate the conduct required of them, second the theory was developed to handle societal problems not individual decision making, thirdly the difference principle may require redistributive taxation to the poor and libertarians argue it is immoral taking of just holding, fourthly the two principles could permit or demand inequalities and suffering in order to benefit the least
Based on BP reaction to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, someone would have thought that was their first incident in the company’s history. BP should have had a better handle on the crisis especially because this is not their first incident with a major oil spill. Unfortunately, BP has been at the center of attention on more than one incident. 15 workers were killed at a BP refinery in Texas when it blew up in 2005. In Alaska, an oil pipeline broke and spilled 200,000 gallons of oil in the North Slope of Alaska (Mouawad, 2010). By far, Deepwater Horizon was their worst incident with 11 deaths, millions of gallons of oil spilled, thousands of individuals were affected and billions in damage were paid out in fines and victims. BP strategy to
Like Singer, Rawls believes that all parties need to benefit from an action performed in a democratic society. Furthering Singer’s point, he also believes that all parties must do their part within society to receive any benefit from that society. He claims that: “fair terms of cooperation specify an idea of reciprocity or mutuality (where) all who do their part as the recognized rules require are to benefit as specified by a public and agreed upon standard” (Rawls, 6) If the standard of the society is that everyone receives the same high level of educational access, then it is fair to restrict the rich from using money to gain more access, however, if the standard of society is to have unequal standards of education across socioeconomic areas then it is not fair for a wealthy family to be restricted. This thought comes from Rawls argument of individual rational advantage where claims that “what counts as a benefit must be from the perspective of our own conception of the good” (Week 12 Handout, 4). Like Singer, Rawls believes that a decision must benefit all parties and not just one party: “The idea of rational advantage specifies what it is that those engaged in cooperation are seeking to advance from the standpoint of their own good” (Rawls,
Political philosopher John Rawls believed that in order for society to function properly, there needs to be a social contract, which defines ‘justice as fairness’. Rawls believed that the social contract be created from an original position in which everyone decides on the rules for society behind a veil of ignorance. In this essay, it will be argued that the veil of ignorance is an important feature of the original position. First, the essay will describe what the veil of ignorance is. Secondly, it will look at what Rawls means by the original position. Thirdly, it will look at why the veil of ignorance is an important feature of the original position. Finally, the essay will present a criticism to the veil of ignorance and the original position and Rawls’ potential response to this.
BP spent millions of dollars per day to clean up the oil spill. It was estimated that BP was spending “$6 million a day on fixing the mess (Grant, J.K. 2011). In 2005, an explosion at BP’s Texas City oil refinery killed 15 people and injured more than180 people. The accident cost the firm US $2 billion in damages and lawsuits (Murry, B. 2010). According to the OSHA (United States Occupational safety and Health Administration) Citations 760 and 761 BP was responsible for wilful and flagrant violations of safety standards. It happened intentionally and showing indifference to its employees and are yet to pay the fines from Texas City explosion. CSR review BP Green washing Tulane Law review Dodd-Frank act whose role is to evaluate the company fraudulent claims of CSR (Cherry, M. A., & Sneirson, J. F. 2010). An approximated $134 million BP plans spend to address the damage it caused for the Deepwater Horizon Resource Damage Assessment Trustees that include to restore habitats for ospreys and other birds, protect sea turtles and rebuild fish populations ( Thompson, A. 2010). Explosion of BP refinery in Texas that caused 100 injuries and 15 deaths in 2005.Criminal charges due to spread of 270,000 gallons of crude oil in Alaskan tundra in 2006.Toxic spill of 2,000 gallons of methanol in the oil