Essay on John Rawls: “Original Position”

Rawls strive to determine how we can make a society as just as possible. Rawls derives two principles; liberty principle and the difference principle. He also gives a theoretical device that he calls “the original position” and “the veil of ignorance” this device is meant to help us in the way that we picture our self behind a veil. We do not know the basic things about ourselves like our sex, age, financial status etc. This device is to help us be totally neutral in the sense that we do not know our status in society. After putting our self in a status quo if you will, we can now decide on what us just for the whole society. Rawls derives then the difference principle. To put this is Rawls own words, the difference principle is: “Then the difference principle is a strongly egalitarian conception in the sense that unless there is a distribution that makes both persons better off an equal distribution is to be preferred

John Rawls was dissatisfied with the traditional philosophical approach to justifying social and political actions therefore he attempted to provide a reasonable theory of social justice through a contract theory approach. In his work, A Theory of Justice, Rawls bases almost the entirety of his piece on the question, what kind of organization of society would rational persons choose if they were in an initial position of independence and equality and setting up a system of cooperation (A Theory of Justice-enotes)? From this seemingly simple question, Rawls goes into further detail describing what he believes society would and should do when setting up a fair and just organizational structure. Throughout his

In this hypothetical situation he explained that “although all act out of self-interest, no one will be able to “stack the deck” by fashioning rules that promotes his or hers personal advantage, because no one would know what is his or hers personal advantage” (Ball et al, 2004. pg. 79). As such the vail in itself produced a form of neutrality, forcing the individual into a social contract agreement. Rawl’s concluded that through reason they arrived at two essential principles in order to guide their society. The first principle is justice, meaning everyone has equal freedom and the second principle is equal opportunities for all. He claims that in a just society nothing should be subject to any political or social bargaining.

Rawls believes that in a situation where a society is established of people who are self-interested, rational, and equal, the rules of justice are established by what is mutually acceptable and agreed upon by all the people. This scenario of negotiating the laws of that society that will be commonly agreed upon and beneficial to

2) Rawls and the Original Position To understand the concerns for the disabled in Rawls original position, it is necessary to understand the general concepts behind the theory. The original position is a hypothetical situation brought on by Rawls that serves as an alternative to the “state of nature” idea of life. This idea lacks any type of political boundaries and falls into a savage state where we are driven by our primal instincts. In the original position, the parties chosen to select principles that will determine the basic structure of the society that they and others will reside, must be free, equal and independent persons.

According to Turner (2015), John Rawls, an American moral and political philosopher, argued that some practices justified on utilitarian grounds are constituted by certain rules and that the decision of decision-makers must therefore be determined by those rules if they are to remain with the given practice. Some rules of the justified practice may themselves provide a measure of latitude to individuals not to follow or enforce the rules of the practice in certain circumstances, but that it would transform the relevant practice to grant decision-makers the discretion to appeal directly to utilitarian consideration in deciding what to do in each individual case (Turner, 2015). John Rawls believed that the decisional authority of the decision-makers

Rawls is a well-known philosopher, for his significant thought experiments and one of the most important philosophical tools is "veil of ignorance”. Where he proposed this principle or lets say method to determine the morality of a particular situation based on ignorance of some things .As he asks us to imagine a dramatic scenario on how a person wants to organize or even would want a society, if the person were placed in what Rawls call it the original position. Within this position the future citizens or people wouldn’t know yet which part they are playing, what kind of position they will occupy, what are their talents within the society or their upcoming society, where they must design their roles and attributes that will be reassigned

Rawls claims that if people did not know their place in society they would follow through with his theory and eradicate all so called injustices that lead to an uneven distribution of wealth. Human beings will always pick the option, which allows them to have to largest possible gains, not one where everyone is on an even playing field. Beings would not place themselves in the lowest of the low; they wouldn’t assume themselves to be “those in need”. Competition seems to be completely ignored by Rawls, we are driven by

John Rawls' theory of justice is based on a belief in which all the people will have the same rights and opportunities. His theoretical idea assumes that people will enter into a social contract called original position. The Original Position idea is based on equality for everyone in economical, goods and liberties perspectives. This “original position” will avoid individuals who climbed the ladder of wealth to take advantage of the least advantage. Rawls assumes that nobody will know their real position in society, and he called this theory the “veil of ignorance”. For this argument, Rawls set two principles of justice. Moreover, the first principle states that people will be granted equal rights and opportunities and no one shall disturb

John Rawls is an egalitarian philosopher and his framework of justice as fairness requires adherence to two principles: the original position and the veil of ignorance. Rawls states that governments should not simply provide basic liberties to its citizens but should ensure that the liberties are distributed fairly in society. In the distribution of these basic liberties or primary goods to all people, the two principles and the original position should be adhered to in order to ensure equity . The original position requires people to imagine themselves to be free and equal people who are committed to the principles of social and political justice . By committing to the original position, the two principles of justice can then be followed.

It is structured to be a fair and unbiased point of view that is to help in making judgments on matters of the fundamental principles of justice Rawls. For an individual to take up this position of neutrality there must be a veil of ignorance that hinders one from looking at the people based on their societal status or amount of wealth (Rawls, 2009). All the people have similar characteristics from this original position, and therefore they can be given a neutral treatment based on their level of need and not material wealth or status in the society. Rawls lectures that the decision making by the parties at an original position are rational choices that follow two principles of justice (Rawls, 2009). The first principle ensures equal fundamental rights and liberties that are required to provide the fair treatment. The second one gives room for equality in the access to the various opportunities that individuals

Rawls first and most important principle claims that every individual has an equal right to basic freedoms and liberties. Though, Rawls classifies certain liberties and rights as more basic, henceforth more important, along with stating that basic liberties are inalienable and untouchable by governments. This, protects individuals through claiming legitimacy to their rights from this contract and states that they are unremovable from citizens. Being compatible with the liberties of others, the bare essential basic liberties of individuals in Rawls ideology includes freedom of speech and assembly, religion, freedom of personal property, political liberties such as voting and running for office, and lastly freedom from arbitrary arrest. Next off. Rawls Equality principle establishes distributive justice, meaning a just reallocation of goods throughout society concerning societal economic inequalities, regarding available quantities. This principle discerns fairness with reference to how costs and

Rawls’ famous thought experiment, the original position, tasks an arbitrary group of players with formulating a set of principles of distributive justice. According to Rawls, this hypothetical set of principles would dictate a just distribution of primary goods and duties in society, such as the right to free speech and property rights, as well as obligations like paying taxes and following laws. If every individual in this arbitrary group can agree on these distributive principles, then the principles are deemed just.

Rawls view of human nature assumes everyone makes decisions based on self-interest alone, while making a rational account to the available information around, such as the probability of events and the cost and benefits of those actions based on those events. An example would be skipping a lecture. You would decide if the extra sleep is worth the missed material. In answer to fix our self-interest, John Rawls had introduced the concept of Justice as Fairness, which focuses that everyone has the right to both liberty and equality. His libertarian principles focus on “quality in the assignment of basic rights and duties” while his equalitarian principles focus on “wealth and authority … only if they result in compensating benefits for everyone” (Rawls 12). His views of equality are based on everyone’s ability to cooperate, with the “advantages” of equality attracting everyone, even the less situated. (Rawls 13).

According to Rawls, distribution of X is just only if it occurs in a society governed by the Equal Basic Liberties Principle, Fair Equality of Opportunity Principle, and the Difference Principle (DP). Rawls’ theorisation of these principles was in response to Utilitarianism. Because utilitarians only seek to maximise total satisfaction in society, it does not matter how satisfaction is distributed among individuals. If maximising total happiness in society depends upon exploiting and impoverishing others, this is just under the principle of utility. Rawls objects, stating: "utilitarianism does not take seriously the distinction between persons", thus formulating a new theory of liberal justice, promoting protection of minorities and fostering a focus on individuals.