123 School Work

Rawls Veil of Ignorance

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  Rawls theory of justice revolves around the
  adaptation of two fundamental principles of justice which would, in turn,
  guarantee a just and morally acceptable society. The first principle
  guarantees the right of each person to have the most extensive basic
  liberty compatible with the liberty of others. The second principle states
  that social and economic positions are to be a) to everyone's advantage
  and b) open to all.      A key problem to Rawls is to show how such
  principles would be universally adopted and here the work borders on
  general ethical issues. He introduces a theoretical "veil of ignorance"
  in which all the "players" in the social game would be placed in a
  situation which is called the "original position". Having only a general
  knowledge of the facts of "life and society", each player is to abide
  based on their moral obligation. By denying the players any specific
  information about themselves it forces them to adopt a generalized point
  of view that bears a strong resemblance to the moral point of view.
       "Moral conclusions can be reached without abandoning the prudential
  standpoint of positing, a moral outlook merely by pursuing one's own
  prudential reasoning under certain procedural bargaining and knowledge
  constraints."      Rawls proposes that the most reasonable principles of
  justice for a society are those that individuals would themselves agree to
  behind the "veil of ignorance", in circumstances in which each is
  represented as a moral person, endowed with the basic moral powers. What
  this position supports is that while each person has different ends and
  goals, different backgrounds and talents, each ought to have a fair chance
  to develop his or her talents and to pursue those goals - fair equality
  for opportunity...