Rawlsian Concepts
This imaginative device asks you to design a society without knowing your future position within it.
Behind the veil, you lack knowledge of your race, class, gender, or talents — collectively known as these.
Contingent Attributes
This is Rawls’s name for his overall theory of justice.
Justice as Fairness
Rawls’s framework is often applied to this public service sector to argue for equal access regardless of income.
Healthcare
This philosopher argued that Rawls’s theory relies too heavily on abstract individualism and ignores community values.
Michael Sandel
Rawls argues that these must be equal for all citizens — including freedom of speech, conscience, and political participation.
Basic Liberties
Rawls uses the veil to argue that rational people would choose principles that protect this group in society.
The Least Advantaged
Rawls says society should be viewed as a type of cooperative venture for mutual advantage.
A Fair System of Social Cooperation
The difference principle supports progressive versions of this government policy tool
Taxation
Libertarians argue that Rawls’s difference principle violates this fundamental right to one’s own labor and property.
Self-Ownership
This principle states that social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least advantaged.
The Difference Principle
The veil of ignorance is part of this larger hypothetical decision-making scenario Rawls uses to justify his principles.
The Original Position
Rawls’s first principle takes priority over the second, a relationship he calls this.
Lexical Priority
Rawlsian analysis of climate change emphasizes protecting these communities, which face the greatest environmental risks
Vulnerable or Marginalized Communities
Some critics say Rawls’s veil of ignorance assumes people are too risk‑averse, a critique often associated with this field of economics.
Behavioral Economics
Rawls contrasts his theory with that of the utilitarian philosopher, who believed maximizing total happiness was the goal of justice.
John Stuart Mill/ Utilitarianism
Rawls believes that people behind the veil would reject this economic system if it allowed extreme inequality without compensating the worst-off.
Unregulated Capitalism
Rawls argues that positions of power and privilege must be open to all under conditions of this.
Fair Equality of Opportunity
Rawls’s ideas are used to critique this practice in voting districts, which undermines equal political participation.
Gerrymandering
Communitarians argue that Rawls underestimates the moral importance of these shared cultural structures.
Social Traditions or Communal Values
Rawls claims that a just society must be structured around these two key principles, chosen under fair conditions of equality
The Two Principles of Justice
Critics argue that the veil assumes individuals are motivated by this type of risk-averse reasoning.
Maximin Reasoning
Rawls’s theory is often contrasted with that of this libertarian thinker, who argued that redistributive taxation violates individual rights
Robert Nozick
Rawls’s framework is frequently invoked in debates about this 2005 disaster, highlighting how the least advantaged were disproportionately harmed.
Hurricane Katrina
This philosopher claimed that Rawls’s principles are too idealized and fail to address real-world power imbalances
Charles Mills