Veil of ignorance

The veil of ignorance is a concept in moral and political philosophy that refers to the idea of making decisions about the allocation of goods or resources without knowing one’s own position in society. The idea is that when making decisions about how to distribute resources or allocate benefits and burdens, decision-makers should be ignorant of their own social position, wealth, abilities, and other factors that might influence their decisions.

The veil of ignorance is often used as a thought experiment to test the fairness of different distributive principles, such as Rawls’s difference principle, which states that social and economic inequalities should be arranged so that they are to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society.

The veil of ignorance is meant to ensure that decision-makers are not biased in favor of their own interests or those of their social group, and that they consider the interests of all members of society equally. It is based on the idea that people will be more likely to act fairly and justly if they do not know their own position in society and must consider the interests of all members of society equally.

While the veil of ignorance is a useful tool for thinking about distributive justice, it is important to note that it is a theoretical construct and may not be feasible to implement in practice.