The Veil Of Ignorance — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:05what's your blueprint for a just Society
3. 0:09your answer probably reflects who you
4. 0:11are and the situation you find yourself
5. 0:13in if you're rich you may well be in
6. 0:16favor of the freedom to earn and enjoy
7. 0:18the fruits of your efforts if you're
8. 0:21poor you're likely to be more supportive
9. 0:23of a system that redistributes
10. 0:25wealth now answer the same question with
11. 0:28this twist
12. 0:30you won't know what kind of a person
13. 0:32you'll be in the society you design what
14. 0:36you have to do is construct it from
15. 0:39behind a veil of ignorance you might end
16. 0:42up black white in a wheelchair straight
17. 0:45Gay born into a wealthy family or living
18. 0:48in extreme poverty you might enjoy
19. 0:51knitting rock music Opera tily Winks or
20. 0:53cage fighting maybe even all of these
21. 0:57you just don't know how you'll end up
22. 1:01this is the thought experiment at the
23. 1:03heart of John rs's book a theory of
24. 1:06Justice he argued that from behind the
25. 1:09veil we had opt for a much fairer
26. 1:12Society than we now have there would be
27. 1:14extensive freedom and fair equality of
28. 1:17opportunity but there wouldn't be
29. 1:19extremes of high pay unless it could be
30. 1:21shown that the poorest in society
31. 1:24directly benefited as a result
32. 1:28[Music]