Single Idea 20595

[catalogued under 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 4. Original Position / b. Veil of ignorance]

Full Idea

Walzer says behind the veil of ignorance there would be no way to know how a particular good should be distributed, because we would not know the social meaning of the good in question.

Gist of Idea

You can't distribute goods from behind a veil, because their social meaning is unclear

Source

report of Michael Walzer (Spheres of Justice [1983]) by Tuckness,A/Wolf,C - This is Political Philosophy 4 'Communitarian'

Book Reference

Tuckness,A / Wolf,C: 'This is Political Philosophy' [Wiley Blackwell 2017], p.97


A Reaction

Is Rawls actually proposing to decide details of distribution from behind the veil? There is just the maximin principle. What that means in practice would surely come once the society was under way.