Veil of Ignorance
John Rawls' thought experiment in which people choose the principles of a just society without knowing their own place in it, so that fairness is guaranteed by impartiality.
Also known as: Original Position
Category: Philosophy & Wisdom
Tags: philosophies, philosophy, ethics, justice, fairness
Explanation
The veil of ignorance is a thought experiment introduced by the American philosopher John Rawls in his 1971 book A Theory of Justice. It is the central device of what Rawls calls the original position, a hypothetical situation in which rational people come together to agree on the fundamental principles that will govern their society. The aim is to model a fair procedure for choosing principles of justice.
Behind the veil, the parties are deprived of all knowledge of their particular circumstances. They do not know their social class, wealth, race, gender, natural talents, religion, or conception of the good life. Because no one can tailor the rules to favor their own situation, the choice is forced to be impartial. Rawls argues that this ignorance of morally arbitrary facts is precisely what makes the resulting agreement fair.
Rawls contends that people reasoning in this position would rationally choose principles that protect everyone, since any of them could turn out to occupy the least advantaged position once the veil is lifted. He argues they would select equal basic liberties for all and would permit social and economic inequalities only if those inequalities benefit the least well off, a requirement he calls the difference principle.
The device is a form of social contract reasoning, updating the tradition of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau by grounding legitimacy in what free and equal persons would agree to under fair conditions. It gives a systematic way to filter out bias, self-interest, and privilege from our thinking about justice, and it can be applied informally to everyday questions by asking what rules one would endorse without knowing which role one would play.
The veil of ignorance has become one of the most influential ideas in modern political philosophy, shaping debates about distributive justice, equality, and fairness. It has also drawn criticism, for example from libertarians who reject its egalitarian conclusions and from communitarians who question whether persons can be meaningfully abstracted from their identities and attachments.
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