Imagine you’re tasked with creating a new society. You get to design the laws, set up the institutions, and decide what’s considered fair and just. There’s just one catch: you don’t know who you’ll be in this society. You could end up wealthy or struggling, in perfect health or facing significant challenges. With no way to predict your position, what kind of rules would you create?
This thought experiment, known as the Veil of Ignorance, was introduced by the 20th-century philosopher John Rawls in his influential book A Theory of Justice. Rawls argued that if we strip away our personal biases and imagine ourselves in a position where we could end up anywhere in society, we’ll be more likely to choose fair and equitable principles. In essence, the Veil of Ignorance asks us to design society without self-interest clouding our judgment.
Rawls believed that a just society would adopt two main principles. The first is equal basic liberties for everyone—think freedom of speech, the right to vote, and personal property rights. The second is what he called the “difference principle”: inequalities are only acceptable if they benefit the least advantaged members of society. This way, even if disparities exist, they must work to improve the overall well-being of the most vulnerable. By placing ourselves behind the Veil of Ignorance, we’re encouraged to think not just about our current circumstances, but about the kind of world we’d want to live in no matter where we find ourselves.
So, how does this apply to us today? While most of us aren’t drafting a national constitution or crafting comprehensive social policies, the Veil of Ignorance offers a helpful lens for everyday decision-making. When considering how to vote, how to treat others, or even how to approach workplace policies, we can ask: Would this decision feel fair if I didn’t know my current position? By consciously shifting our perspective, we can foster more empathy, fairness, and equity in our personal lives and communities.
This thought experiment also provides a valuable starting point for examining many pressing issues: How should healthcare be structured to serve everyone fairly? What kind of tax policies best support equality of opportunity? How do we ensure that our legal systems protect the most vulnerable members of society? The Veil of Ignorance pushes us to think beyond our immediate interests, aiming instead for solutions that create a more just and inclusive world.
Recommended Book: If you’d like to delve deeper into this concept and Rawls’s broader theory of justice, his seminal work A Theory of Justice is the best place to start. In it, Rawls meticulously outlines the principles behind the Veil of Ignorance and provides a comprehensive framework for understanding fairness and equality in complex societies.
