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Full Idea
If the darker aspects of human motivation did not exist, there would be no need for Rawls to place his people behind the veil of ignorance.
Gist of Idea
The veil of ignorance is only needed because people have bad motivations
Source
John Kekes (Against Liberalism [1997], 07.2)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'Against Liberalism' [Cornell 1997], p.145
A Reaction
All the critics observe that Rawls's blind choosers are nothing like as simple as the mere specks of rationality he seems to imagine. The usual objection is that they are already liberals, but this objection says they are already benevolent.
| 20005 | The rich would never submit to a lottery deciding which part of their society should be slaves [Montesquieu] |
| 18636 | Choose justice principles in ignorance of your own social situation [Rawls] |
| 20595 | You can't distribute goods from behind a veil, because their social meaning is unclear [Walzer, by Tuckness/Wolf] |
| 23109 | The veil of ignorance is only needed because people have bad motivations [Kekes] |
| 20987 | The veil of ignorance encourages neutral interests, but not a wider view of values [Sen] |
| 20568 | The principles Rawls arrives at do not just conform to benevolence, but also result from choices [Oksala] |
| 20593 | The veil of ignorance ensures both fairness and unanimity [Tuckness/Wolf] |
| 22848 | People with strong prior beliefs would have nothing to do with a veil of ignorance [Charvet] |