Veil of ignorance

Illustration of Rawls' veil of ignorance. People make decisions about society from their original state (left) without knowing their future identity (right) - gender, origin, wealth, abilities, preferences. Rawls argues that this ensures the choice of a just society.

The veil of ignorance ( veil of ignorance is) an important part of the theory of justice ( A Theory of Justice ) of the American philosopher John Rawls (1921-2002), of the condition of the people in a fictional decision situation referred to in which they indeed Can decide about the future social order, but do not know yourself where in this order they will be later, that is, are under a "veil of ignorance".

Rawls believes that this " original state " ( "original position", erroneously often called a state of nature interpretation) all people are identical and therefore have no other or towards each other interests. Likewise, for the same reason, they will not be able to falsify their decision on the principles of justice and thus opt for a just social contract .

Rawls achieves this total equality by treating the following factors of man and human life as irrelevant to justice :

mental, physical and social characteristics such as skin color, ethnicity, gender, religion
Position within society, social status
material possessions
mental and physical abilities such as intelligence, strength
special psychological inclinations such as taking risks, optimism
Concept of the good, details of your own life plan
Establishment of society, for example of an economic and political nature
Level of society, for example with regard to civilization progress and culture
Belonging to a certain generation

From this abstract equality follows the impartiality of the people, on the basis of which they should choose the Rawlsian from a number of possible principles of justice. No logical relation can be seen in this; it is an argument presented in the normative theory of justice.

Web links

Fred D'Agostino: Original position. In: Edward N. Zalta (Ed.): Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
Justice with the veil of ignorance by and with John Rawls - Podcast Soziopod No. 52 (May 2019)

Individual evidence

^ The following list is based on: John Rawls: A Theory of Justice. Revised Edition. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1999, ISBN 0-674-00077-3 , p. 118.

[1] The following list is based on: John Rawls: A Theory of Justice. Revised Edition. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1999, ISBN 0-674-00077-3 , p. 118.