The Case for Equality



The Case for Equality

Introduction

The book Justice-What's The Right Thing to do, written by Michael J. Sandel is based on the concept of Justice and how it is influenced by morality and such issues. In his book he has a chapter going by the title A Case of Equality by John Rawls. In it Rawls is of the opinion that there are a handful of principles that everyone would choose when deciding on the rules and regulations for one's society when one or all of the deciders are behind the veil of ignorance. He describes the Veil of Ignorance is a time when no person is aware of his or her race, sex, strength, intelligence, wealth, social position, life goals or even religion. When making the decision from behind the said 'veil of ignorance' no one shall be able to create any kind of social rules which are favorable for himself and not for others. Hence Rawls concludes that in theory the rules that would be laid down would be completely just and fair.

Discussion

According to him there are two principles which would be laid down by people who were making their decisions from behind the veil.

The first of Rawls's principles dictates the fact that all the people should possess a similar number of basic liberties, which include the right to hold office, free of speech and conscience, freedom from arbitrary arrest, vote for elected office and hold person property, etc.

The second principle put forward of John Rawls is broken down into two parts. The first segment states that it is the responsibility of the society to make sure that opportunity is presented to everyone in an equal and fair manger. The concept of fair equality of opportunity differs from the existing formal opportunity equality or it can ...