1. Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance

2. Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance
John Rawl, A Theory of Justice
Utilitarianism
Fairness is fundamental idea in concept of justice
Cases of fairness
Easy = arithmetic fairness
Veil of Ignorance
Uses “original position” to determine outcomes
Two primary principles formulated “behind the veil”
John Rawls (1921 – 2002) = leading figure in moral and political philosophy
Book (1971) was considered the most important work in moral philosophy since the end of WW II
Was the alternative to utilitarianism! (greatest happiness for most people)
Use fairness to determine justice
Easy cases = quantity
Everyone in same union doing same work gets 10% raise
3 wrong on a test = same grade
Each child get same number of cookies at a party
Veil of ignorance for harder cases:
When faced with more inherent or essential inequalities
Graduated tax scale = deemed acceptable to society even though teachers may only pay 15% of income to taxes while editors, advertisers, PR staff and film producers could pay 33 – 35% of income to tax
When social contracts are inherently unequal, blind averages are unfair, and intuitional judgments are too prone to error

3. Additional notes on Rawl
Participants step behind veil into “original position”
Behind barrier were roles and social differentiations are eliminated = no race, gender, class, group interests etc
Considered equal members of society as whole
No one knows how well they would fair when out from behind the veil
Rawl argues that we inevitably seek to protect the weaker party and minimize risks since more vulnerable party receives priority, Rawls believes it’s a just resolution
Two principles of social contract formulated behind the veil
Maximal system of equal basic liberty
Every person must have largest political liberty compatible if all persons have the same amount
Liberty has priority over economic or social advantages b/c can never be traded
When considering anything other than liberty
Allows inequality in distribution as long as act to benefit the least advantaged party
Inequalities in power, wealth, and income agreed on must benefit members of society who are worse off

4. Behind the veil Remove all known qualifiers from both
Attempt to create a working relationship agreeable to both after the veil is parted
Stark advisory notions would disappear
No agreement that elected officials should be called the enemy or liars bc those who emerge as politicians would resent labels
Independence, toughness, and persistence would be deemed reasonable for media professionals but basic respect for all humans should replace the unmitigated and cynical abrasiveness among those wielding the instrument of power called news dissemination