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Rawls Reimagines Justice From Behind a Veil of Ignorance

Design the rules of society without knowing what position in it you will occupy, Rawls proposes, and see what fairness requires

On the timeline · around 1971 · Modern PhilosophyModern PhilosophyRawls Reimagines Justice From Behind a Veil of Ignorance1930194019501960197019801990

Quick facts

Rawls's dates
1921-2002
A Theory of Justice published
1971
Key device
The original position and veil of ignorance
Second principle
The difference principle

What happened

John Rawls, born in 1921, published A Theory of Justice in 1971, reviving the social contract tradition that had lain largely dormant in political philosophy since the 18th century. Rawls proposed a thought experiment, the original position, in which representatives of real citizens agree on principles of justice from behind a veil of ignorance that deprives them of knowledge of the race, class, gender, and social position of the people they represent, forcing them to choose principles that would be acceptable no matter which position in society they personally ended up occupying. From this position, Rawls argued, rational representatives would choose two principles: an equal claim to the fullest possible scheme of basic liberties for all, and a rule, the difference principle, permitting social and economic inequalities only when they work to the greatest benefit of society's least advantaged members.

Why it matters

A Theory of Justice reestablished normative political philosophy as a central, rigorous field within academic philosophy after decades in which many analytic philosophers treated ethics and politics as outside philosophy's proper scope, and Rawls's two principles became the reference point that virtually all subsequent work in political philosophy, whether building on them or arguing against them, has had to address.

How we know

A Theory of Justice survives in its original 1971 edition and Rawls's own later revised edition; his arguments and their reception are documented in the vast subsequent secondary literature responding directly to the book, beginning almost immediately after its publication.

Sources

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Part of a timelineHistory of Western Philosophy28 events · From asking what water has to do with everything to arguing about what justice would look like behind a veil of ignoranceView all →
Rawls Reimagines Justice From Behind a Veil of Ignorance · History of Western Philosophy · SourcedStory