A History of Ideas: John Rawls On The Veil of Ignorance

BBC

A History of Ideas: The Veil of Ignorance

Cognitive and TED collaboration

Stephen Fry on The Veil of Ignorance

Ray Laurence

What would be your blueprint for a just society? Would it simply reflect the needs of your current social position? But what if you drew up the blueprint for a society with no idea what position you might hold in it?  Philosopher John Rawls contends that from behind a veil of ignorance, most of us would design a fairer society just in case we found ourselves in the poorest part of it. 

Want to hear more on this topic?

Here’s the whole episode from A History of Ideas – Philosopher Angie Hobbs on The Veil of Ignorance

Project scrapbook

You may also like these
A History of Ideas: Habeas Corpus
A History of Ideas: Habeas Corpus

How can we protect individual freedom and ensure that Governments cannot hold people without charge?

A History of Ideas: Lex Talionis and Retribution
A History of Ideas: Lex Talionis and Retribution

The Lex Talionis, or law of ‘an eye for an eye’, sounds brutal, but is it in fact a way of keeping retribution in proportion?

A History of Ideas: John Rawls On The Veil of Ignorance
A History of Ideas: John Rawls On The Veil of Ignorance

What would be your blueprint for a just society? Would it simply reflect the needs of your current social position? But what if you drew up the blueprint for a society with no idea what position you might hold in it?

A History of Ideas: Henry David Thoreau On Civil Disobedience
A History of Ideas: Henry David Thoreau On Civil Disobedience

What do you do if your society has unjust laws? Simply put up with them? Start a revolution to smash the state? Philosopher Henry David Thoreau put forward the idea of civil disobedience to change unjust laws.

Andrew Park

Cart (0)