Veil of Ignorance - Ethics Unwrapped

Veil of Ignorance ... All people are biased by their situations, so how can people agree on a “social contract” to govern how the world should work. Philosopher ... McCombsSchoolofBusiness TheUniversityofTexasatAustin English Español VeilofIgnoranceAllpeoplearebiasedbytheirsituations,sohowcanpeopleagreeona“socialcontract”togovernhowtheworldshouldwork. PhilosopherJohnRawlssuggeststhatweshouldimaginewesitbehindaveilofignorancethatkeepsusfromknowingwhoweareandidentifyingwithourpersonalcircumstances.Bybeingignorantofourcircumstances,wecanmoreobjectivelyconsiderhowsocietiesshouldoperate. TwoprimaryprinciplessupplementRawls’veilofignorance:thelibertyprincipleandthedifferenceprinciple. Accordingtothelibertyprinciple,thesocialcontractshouldtrytoensurethateveryoneenjoysthemaximumlibertypossiblewithoutintrudinguponthefreedomofothers. Accordingtothedifferenceprinciple,thesocialcontractshouldguaranteethateveryoneanequalopportunitytoprosper.Inotherwords,ifthereareanysocialoreconomicdifferencesinthesocialcontract,theyshouldhelpthosewhoaretheworstoff.And,anyadvantagesinthecontractshouldbeavailabletoeveryone. So,accordingtoRawls,approachingtoughissuesthroughaveilofignoranceandapplyingtheseprinciplescanhelpusdecidemorefairlyhowtherulesofsocietyshouldbestructured.Andfairness,asRawlsandmanyothersbelieve,istheessenceofjustice. WatchtheNextVideo VirtueEthics