John Rawl's Definitions Of Society
They are two principal that can be used for regulating society. Rawls’s first principle guarantees moral equality between people, which is a grounding condition for a just society. Each person should, therefore, have an equal right to the most comprehensive set of basic freedoms that are compatible with a reciprocal system of freedom for all. The second principle states that social economic inequalities will only be justified if they benefit the worst off in society and if they are attached to positions and offices open to all.
John Rawls first of all argues that society is inherently unfair as it is. Income disparities and the vast differences in life expectancies of the top 10% and bottom 10% bearers of wealth or income in society supports
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Behind this veil we would have no knowledge of what sort of parents we had, where we lived, how the schools performed, and how the police and judicial services would treat us. The central question that forms the basis of all these assumptions is that “If we knew nothing about where we would end up, what sort of society would it feel safer to enter?”
This veil of ignorance stops us thinking about all those who have done well and draws attention to the downside risks of entering the South African Society as if it were a gamble like the lottery without knowing you would end up as a Child of a Millionaire business tycoon in the affluent parts of Pretoria or a child of a single mother just getting by on the outskirts of Cape Town, Kayelisha.
The gamblers would not in their lucid mind take the risk, and would also probably not accept the current dispensation as it is today. Rawls suggests that every sane player in the game from behind the veil, will want to see well-kept and well-performing schools, affordable and quality healthcare, fair judicial conduct and decent housing for all. Rawls’ theory is thus of the utmost importance to policy makers when deciding how best to allocate resources, as policy makers have to according to Rawls take a step back into this veil of ignorance in order to devise the best or most just solution.
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