Veil Of Ignorance Essay

The Veil of Ignorance by John Rawls is one of the most important philosophical ideas of the twentieth century. An acceptable society is built on the Veil of Ignorance. Rawls says that we should figure out what justice means by building a community from the ground up in a way everyone can accept. So, we have to imagine ourselves before any society exists. The best way to think about justice is to pretend that we are starting a new society from scratch. In this case, social justice will be based on what most people agree is fair. Then, our community can start to look like the perfect picture we have in our heads. (Davies, 2020). A decision they make about the structure of this new society could have either harmful or beneficial consequences for

If they decide that men will be superior, for example, they run the risk of becoming women. They cannot be surprised if they find themselves in slavery if they decide that ten percent of the population will be subject to slavery. As no one wants to be a disadvantaged group member, the Veil of Ignorance would produce an egalitarian society. The egalitarian principle states that all people are equal and deserve the same opportunities and rights. Cognitive biases disappear behind the Veil of Ignorance. The Veil of Ignorance can be understood by imagining that we are cutting up a pizza to share with friends. The last person to take a slice will be us, and the only way to ensure we get the most significant share is to make all the slices the same size. One large slice could be cut for us and a few tiny ones for our friends, but one of them might take the large slice and leave us with the small slice. (Farnam Street Media,

Even though queen ants can form colonies independently, they will band together to form more productive and vital colonies. A queen fights to the death until one remains after the first worker ant group matures. Queen ants form colonies behind a Veil of Ignorance; it is still unclear if they will be the only survivors. The only thing they instinctively know is that cooperation is beneficial to their species. By necessity, the ants make a selfless decision, like the people behind the Veil of Ignorance. Using the Veil of Ignorance as an example, we can see that ignorance is not always detrimental to society, and in some cases, it can create robust social structures. Animals often cooperate even though they do not know whether they will benefit or suffer. (Farnam Street Media, 2017). Rawls suggests we assume that we do not know many facts about ourselves and our society, which will likely bias our thinking. Rawls hoped that ignoring these facts could avoid biases that might otherwise affect a group decision. We might be tempted, for example, if we were designing a society, to make it beneficial to philosophers, men, or people who love science fiction. We cannot be influenced without knowing any of those facts about ourselves. Veil of Ignorance was designed to ensure that people's concern for their benefit could translate into fair arrangements for everyone,