Quotation
Last reviewed:
“The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance.”
John Rawls · Political philosophy · Modern · 1971
What does it mean?
The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. You do not know your class, talents, or conception of the good, and you choose for the basic structure. Fair principles are those you would accept without knowing which person you will be. A rival reading says the veil is a trick: it smuggles a liberal result by banning the knowledge real choosers have, or it is so thin that it cannot yield his two principles. The veil is a thought experiment, not a description of how constitutions are written. Its force is normative.
Did John Rawls really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. A fair one-sentence statement of Rawls's device, not a single aphorism he isolated. Behind the veil you do not know your class, talents, or conception of the good, and you choose principles for the basic structure.
Where it comes from
A Theory of Justice, the original-position argument
Approximate date: 1971.
How to use it
Before backing a rule at a tenants' association in Hackney, imagine you do not know whether you will be the person it helps most or the person it burdens most. If your enthusiasm depends on knowing, the veil has done its job. The exercise is not a constitution. It is a way of representing fairness to yourself before you vote.
A mindset reading
Critics dispute the veil, the principles, or both. Treating the sentence as a proverb about empathy loses the machinery: parties, primary goods, the basic structure. Empathy is not the argument, even when the exercise feels like empathy.
Understand the philosophy
He uses the device to argue for equal basic liberties and for inequalities arranged to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged. The summary on this card is a handle. Section 24 is the mechanism. Do not let the handle replace the section.
- justice
- knowledge
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. You do not know your class, talents, or conception of the good, and you choose for the basic structure. Fair principles are those you would accept without knowing which person you will be. A rival reading says the veil is a trick: it smuggles a liberal result by banning the knowledge real choosers have, or it is so thin that it cannot yield his two principles. The veil is a thought experiment, not a description of how constitutions are written. Its force is normative.
Did John Rawls really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. A fair one-sentence statement of Rawls's device, not a single aphorism he isolated. Behind the veil you do not know your class, talents, or conception of the good, and you choose principles for the basic structure.
Which work is it in?
A Theory of Justice, the original-position argument Approximate date: 1971.