The Veil of Ignorance

I was listening to my pod this week when I came across a discussion of philosopher John Rawl's "Veil of Ignorance".

"Imagine that you have set for yourself the task of developing a totally new social contract for today's society. How could you do so fairly? Although you could never actually eliminate all of your personal biases and prejudices, you would need to take steps at least to minimize them. Rawls suggests that you imagine yourself in an original position behind a veil of ignorance . Behind this veil, you know nothing of yourself and your natural abilities, or your position in society. You know nothing of your sex, race, nationality, or individual tastes. Behind such a veil of ignorance all individuals are simply specified as rational, free, and morally equal beings. You do know that in the "real world", however, there will be a wide variety in the natural distribution of natural assets and abilities, and that there will be differences of sex, race, and culture that will distinguish groups of people from each other."

I must have gone back to deep sleep because I can't really remember what came after that so I didn't hear any of the opinions of those in the show. So I have set myself the task of taking up the challenge but I am not sure I am getting very far.

I considered that my first "rule" would be that all people would be equal. Then I stopped and had to think about that - does that mean they contribute equally, or are paid equally, or are equal before the law, or have equal access to health and education services. Although it sounds really easy, I am not sure that any of that is entirely practical (or maybe I am carrying forth my prejudices of the world I live in).

What about the very disabled, are the same expectations on "contribution" to be put on them as the able bodies. And how do we define "contribution"? It all gets hard after that.

In theory we are all equal before the law but then there is the maxim "he who has the best lawyer wins". And, currently in Australia, prior to processing, people claiming refugee status (yes the "illegals") are not equal. Nor is David Hicks. And we all know the paedophiles get rougher treatment once in jail than others (mainly by the prison population). And there is the thoughts of solitary confinement... or guilty by means of mental incompetency. Again, it is all getting quite hard.

Equal access to government services is another one - by default many services are located in major population areas and are progressively reduced the smaller your community.

Hmm, I thought it would be easy to come up with a few guidelines for an alternate world but this is as far as I have got.

Any thoughts?

Photo: "You Are the Veil" by imakatia