Before We Start
The thought experiment, stated precisely
Published in 1971, Rawls's core thought experiment asks: what principles would you choose to govern society if you had to choose them from behind a "veil of ignorance" — not knowing your own race, class, gender, natural talents, or life plan? This genuinely elegant device is designed to strip away self-interested bias from the process of designing fair, just principles.
💡 Why This Specific Design Produces Genuine Fairness
Because you don't know whether you'll end up rich or poor, talented or not, part of a majority or minority group, the veil of ignorance forces genuinely self-interested reasoning to converge on principles that are fair regardless of your eventual actual position — you can't rig the rules in your own favor if you don't know which position will actually be yours.
Mnemonic
The thought experiment and its two resulting principles
The Veil of Ignorance
Choosing without knowing your own position
Behind the veil, you don't know your race, class, gender, natural abilities, or life plan — a device specifically designed to generate genuinely impartial, fair principles.
Equal Basic Liberties Principle
First principle
Each person has equal basic political and civil liberties — this first principle takes priority over the second in Rawls's ordering.
Difference Principle
Second principle
Social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least well-off members of society — inequality isn't banned outright, but must specifically work to the advantage of those at the bottom.
💊 The priority ordering between the two principles is worth remembering precisely: liberty takes priority over equality — meaning the first principle (equal basic liberties) cannot be traded away or sacrificed even to achieve greater equality under the second principle (the difference principle). This specific ordering is a frequently tested detail.
⚖️ Applying the Framework — Evaluating a Proposed Policy Through Rawls's Framework
A proposed economic policy would produce significant overall economic growth and substantially increase inequality, with the specific benefits flowing almost entirely to those already well-off, while the poorest members of society see no meaningful improvement in their position.
Apply the Difference Principle
Under Rawls's difference principle, this policy would NOT be justified — inequality is only acceptable if it specifically benefits the least well-off, and this policy's inequality benefits primarily those already well-off, with no meaningful improvement for the poorest. Overall economic growth alone doesn't satisfy Rawls's specific standard; the benefit must reach the bottom specifically.
Confirm the Analysis Using the Veil of Ignorance
Applying the veil-of-ignorance thought experiment directly: a rational person choosing principles without knowing whether they'd end up among the poorest wouldn't accept a policy that increases inequality while leaving their potential position at the bottom completely unimproved — this confirms the difference principle's judgment through the original thought experiment itself. Both the specific principle and the underlying thought experiment converge on the same conclusion here.
📌 Exam Application
Rawls questions test both the veil of ignorance mechanism and the specific content of the two principles:
Thought experiment: "What is the 'veil of ignorance,' and what is it designed to produce?" → A thought experiment where you choose principles without knowing your own race, class, gender, talents, or life plan — designed to produce genuinely impartial, fair principles.
Difference principle: "Under the difference principle, when are social and economic inequalities justified?" → Only if they benefit the least well-off members of society.
Priority ordering: "Which of Rawls's two principles takes priority — liberty or equality?" → Liberty (the Equal Basic Liberties Principle) takes priority.
⚠️ The Trap — Assuming the Difference Principle Prohibits All Inequality
Because Rawls's theory is associated with egalitarian liberalism, it's easy to assume the difference principle bans inequality outright. It doesn't — inequality is genuinely permitted, but ONLY when it specifically benefits the least well-off members of society.
The safeguard: Remember the difference principle's precise conditional structure — inequality is acceptable specifically when, and only when, it benefits those at the bottom, not banned outright.
✓ Quick Self-Test
Answer before checking:
1. What is the "veil of ignorance"?
2. What is the Equal Basic Liberties Principle?
3. What is the Difference Principle?
4. Which of the two principles takes priority?
Answers:
1. A thought experiment where you choose principles for society without knowing your own race, class, gender, abilities, or life plan.
2. Each person has equal basic political and civil liberties.
3. Social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least well-off members of society.
4. The Equal Basic Liberties Principle (liberty) takes priority over the Difference Principle (equality).
Next Lesson
Rawls vs. Nozick — Egalitarian Liberalism vs. Libertarianism
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