How Does John Rawls Use The Veil Of Ignorance

665 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Rawls objection to utilitarianism

harm to society. In, Development of Freedom, Amartya Sen explains the idea of capability and opportunity. He uses examples of how social norms and stigmas of established by social powers as well as the influence of legal powers in different societies can either benefit or harm the individual in the respective societies. Sen uses the example of the different amounts of poverty and malnutrition in countries in accordance to income. In sub-Saharan Africa, the mean income is higher than that of India, however the amount extent of poverty and malnutrition is higher than that of India (Sen, pg.99). This mainly due to both legal and social injustice in Africa and justice in India, as Sen states Africa is “self sufficient in food”, but India is “self-sufficient …show more content…

His theories are found on the basis of liberty and freedom, two feature that Rawls believed was missing from the concept of utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill. First is his Veil of Ignorance, Rawls believed that under unknown conditions; people will always choose a society that is fair. For majority this is the type of society that people also want work towards creating. Because under the Veil of Ignorance, individuals do not know what society they are placed in, people must hope for the best worse case position (The School of Life). So, under Rawls view legal and social justice can be achieved. This can be done so because Rawls’s theory provides a means for society to try and achieve a version of just society. Rawls believes there are flaws in equality in society, as he states, “all social values-liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the social bases of self-respect-are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any, or all, of these values is to everyone's advantage, Injustice, then, is simply inequalities that are not to the benefit of all.” (Rawls. pg.54). A society that does not provide equal opportunity at wealth and public office is not just. Societies should have commitments at achieving so. When this is done, according to Rawls, then a society can be called

Show More
Related

  • John Rawls and the Social Contract

    3640 Words  | 8 Pages

    ABSTRACT. Adapting the traditional social contract approach of earlier years to a more contemporary use, John Rawls initiated an unparaleled revitalization of social philosophy. Instead of arguing for the justification of civil authority or the form that it should take, Professor Rawls is more interested in the principles that actuate basic social institutions —he presupposes authority and instead focuses on its animation. In short, Rawls argues that “justice as fairness” should be that basic animating principle.

    Read More

  • Evicted By Matthew Desmond Analysis

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poverty is not just an issue reserved for third world countries. Instead, poverty is a multifaceted issue that even the most developed nations must battle

    Read More

  • John Rawls on Justice

    1425 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Rawls divided up his theory into four distinct parts; the first part consisted of his belief of primary goods, next is the formation of principles of justice, third is the institutionalization of society, and finally the last part of his theory is the actual workings within society . The general concept of Rawls’s theory is, “all primary goods must be distributed equally unless the unequal distribution of any of these goods is to the advantage of the least favored” . In order to analyze this correctly Rawls’ terms must be defined; according to Rawls a primary good are “things that every rational man is presumed to want. Goods normally have use regardless of a person’s rational plan to life is” . Some examples of a primary good are: basic rights, opportunity, and income to name a few. With the unders...

    Read More

  • Rawls Principles Of Justice Essay

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...gations that the individuals in the society have towards each other. Rawls indicates that there are public institutions that are present in a just and fair society. He considers the following types of systems that include Laissez-faire capitalism, welfare-state capitalism, property-owning democracy and liberal democratic socialism. Although he indicates that only property owning, democracy and liberal socialism are the ideal systems that satisfy the principles of justice. With reference to the twentieth century, Rawls says that institutions within the United States society play a major role in causing injustices. For example, the extremely expensive campaign systems alienate every individual who is not very rich from running for public office. In addition, the expensive health care policy issue restricts the best care to those who can only afford it. (Rawls, 2001).

    Read More

  • Rawls Theory Of Justice

    3346 Words  | 7 Pages

    INTRODUCTION John Rawls most famous work, A Theory of Justice, deals with a complex system of rules and principles. It introduces principles of justice to the world, principles which Rawls argues, are meant to create and strengthen equality while removing the inequality which exists within society. These principles are both meant as standalone laws and regulations, but they can be joined as well. The main function of the first principle is to ensure the liberty of every individual, while the second principle is meant to be the force for the removal of inequality through what Rawls calls distributive justice. I will begin this paper by making clear that this is a critique of Rawls and his principle of difference and not an attempt at a neutral analysis.

    Read More

  • Prejudice and Racism - A Fair and Just Society is Still Only a Dream

    3052 Words  | 7 Pages

    This Critical Essay Builds Upon the Concepts of Rawls and King to Examine the Potential for Justice in America

    Read More

  • John Rawls: “Original Position”

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rawls’ argues that a person’s good is that which is needed for the successful execution of a rational long-term goal of life given reasonably favorable circumstances. He described the definition of good as the satisfaction of rational desires and identified goods as liberty, opportunity, income, wealth and self-respect. Rawls creates a hypothetical society, via a thought experiment known as the “Veil of Ignorance,” in which all that you know of yourself is eliminated from your mind to allow you to come to a rational decision on how you would like your society to be organized. Rawls principle is that under a social contract, what is right must be the same for everyone. The essence of Rawls' “veil of ignorance” is that it is designed to be a representation of persons purely in their capacity as free and equal moral persons.

    Read More

  • Robert Parlberg Attention Whole Food Shoppers Summary

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Africa is failing to keep up with population growth not because it has exhausted its potential, but instead because too little has been invested in reaching that potential.” Paarlberg backs this claim with evidence that India’s food issue was solved with foreign assistance in development and offers that the solution to Africa’s food shortage is also development and farm modernization endorsed by foreign aid.

    Read More

  • An Ideal Society in John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    In order to form this fair society, Rawls creates the idea of the veil of ignorance. The veil of ignorance removes the prejudice from our decision making by allowing us to act as if we did not know our special talents, our race, our gender, or anything else that makes us unique individuals. Now because we do not know where we would fall in this fair society from behind the veil of ignorance, our natural instinct would be to raise the lowest class of people to a place that we would be comfortable in if we were to be there. This would also lower the stance of the highest class of people, but they would still be a higher class.

    Read More

  • Poverty In Africa Essay

    1353 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over one billion people are living in poverty, lacking safe water, housing, food, and the ability to read. There is a high concentration of communities in poverty in Africa; particularly Central Africa. States that are considered in Central Africa are the following: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Republic of Africa, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. The majority of these Central African states’ economies are dependent on agriculture. As a result of this dependency, natural disasters, droughts and wars can displace subsistence farmer from their land resulting in poverty becoming even more prevalent and harder to come back from. Also with a history of dependency on farming there tends to be the trend of education not being a primary focus for the youth which is another factor into the stagnant poverty trend in Central Africa.

    Read More

  • John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice holds that a rational, mutually disinterested individual in the Original Position and given the task of establishing societal rules to maximise their own happiness throughout life, is liable to choose as their principles of justice a) guaranteed fundamental liberties and b) the nullification of social and economic disparities by universal equality of opportunities, which are to be of greatest benefit to the least advantaged members of society,. Rawls’ system of societal creation has both strengths and weaknesses, but is ultimately sound. One strength is the inherent compulsion to look after the interests of the entire society through the Veil of Ignorance. One is unable to look after the interests of a single particular ethnic, political or social grouping because of uncertainty regarding which groups they will belong to within society, so they grant all individuals “freedom of thought, [religion], personal and political liberties”. This establishes a precedent of equality for all and ensures a fair standard of living.

    Read More

  • The Philosophies Of John Rawls Vs. Nozick

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Rawls was more in agreement with the works of Locke and Rousseau; however, Rawls disagreed with the notion that the State of Nature was a historical situation as opposed to something hypothetical; Rawls instead believed an original position of equality which I agree with (917). Rawls believed humans to be free, rational, self-interested, and most importantly, equal.

    Read More

  • Poverty and Disease

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    Nearly 50,000 people, including 30,000 children, die each day due to poverty-related problems and preventable disease in underdeveloped Countries. That doesn’t include the other millions of people who are infected with AIDS and other incurable diseases. Especially those living in Sub-Saharan Africa (70%), or “the Third-World,” and while we fight to finish our homework, children in Africa fight to survive without food, or clean water. During the next few paragraphs I will give proof that poverty and disease are the two greatest challenges facing under developed countries.

    Read More

  • The Original Position and the Veil of Ignorance

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • "Justice and Fairness"

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...egarding their classes within the state, which is essentially the idea of maximin. Therefore Rawls' approach to justice conveys the notion that our response to poverty should begin on a state level, for it is through the building of just state institutions that his two main principles can begin to take effect, which in turn, as Rawls' would argue, would lead to a more just and equal state which benefited persons of all social rankings.

    Read More

More about How Does John Rawls Use The Veil Of Ignorance

Open Document