1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,880 What is justice? Have you ever wondered what this concept means? For example, how 2 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:16,480 should we make our rules in society, our laws, so that they are just? Is there a 3 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:24,120 right procedure to make legislation that guarantees that these laws are going to 4 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:31,240 be fair and just? The American philosopher John Rawls created a theory 5 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:40,240 of justice to answer this important question. He created a model, a procedure, 6 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:49,480 so that we could create rules that are fair and just for everybody. His theory 7 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:56,680 is quite abstract, so let me explain it with an imaginary example. Imagine that 8 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:05,240 a great inventor has created a machine that can destroy you and transform you 9 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:12,040 into a completely different person. This revolutionary machine works like this. 10 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:18,400 You enter the machine, you press a button, and then you disappear, and immediately 11 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:24,520 you reappear. You reappear in another body, so maybe you are someone of a 12 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:30,280 different age, of a different gender maybe, of a different religion, of a 13 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:35,360 different wealth. You don't know who you're going to be after going through 14 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:45,040 this machine. How can this machine help us to create just norms? Imagine that we 15 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,440 use this machine in the process of making norms. Let's make the norms 16 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:57,000 following this procedure. We're going to talk, we're going to discuss, and we're 17 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:05,520 going to make the laws, finding an agreement after we talk. But later, once 18 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:12,320 that we have created the law, everybody must go through the machine. So you don't 19 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:18,160 know who you're going to be when the law will be applied. How would this 20 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:26,920 change your way of making the law? If you really don't know who you're going to be, 21 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:32,120 would you make a law that discriminates people? It would be quite stupid, because 22 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:38,120 you might be one of them after going through the machine. So our law would be 23 00:02:38,120 --> 00:02:43,600 fair, because you don't know if you are going to appear in the body of someone 24 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:49,360 who has problems, or who has health problems, or who is poor, or who has a 25 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:58,480 different gender or race. Of course, John Rawls didn't speak about this machine. In 26 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:05,240 his book, The Theory of Justice, he proposed a model, though that is quite 27 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:13,520 similar. He said, if we want our laws to be just, we should try to make them with 28 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:20,600 equity. And this can only be done if we create the law under a veil of 29 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:26,840 ignorance. What is this? A veil of ignorance means that you don't know who 30 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:32,640 you really are. So instead of making laws that benefit you or the group you 31 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:39,080 belong to, you should forget, make an effort to ignore the kind of person that 32 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:45,280 you are. Imagine that you don't know who you are, and then try to make the rules 33 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:51,640 forgetting the particular group you belong to. If you do that, the laws will 34 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:58,960 be fair. This imaginary situation in which everybody makes a law under a veil 35 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,360 of ignorance, meaning not taking into account their particular interests or 36 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:10,240 circumstances, is called by John Rawls the original position. So what he says 37 00:04:10,240 --> 00:04:17,040 in his book is, the law will be fair and just if it is made under a veil of 38 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:23,400 ignorance in the original position. Because in this case, we will take into 39 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:29,960 account all different perspectives, and we will not try to favor our particular 40 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:38,960 standpoint. How would a certain law look like if we do it following this method? 41 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:45,640 John Rawls thought that the law that is done under a veil of ignorance and in 42 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:50,600 the original position will have two characteristics. It will follow the 43 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:57,000 principle of equality, and also it will follow the principle of difference. The 44 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:03,400 principle of equality says that we will make rules that treat people with 45 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:10,560 equality, with equity, that give equal rights, benefits, and freedoms to 46 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:15,520 everybody, that give the same opportunities to everybody, regardless of 47 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:21,200 the group they belong to or of their particular circumstances. But there is 48 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:25,720 also a principle of difference, because if we make the rules under a veil of 49 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:32,320 ignorance, we will try to favor specially disadvantaged people in order to 50 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:38,720 reestablish equity. Now, it is important that you realize that the law made 51 00:05:38,840 --> 00:05:45,480 according to this procedure need not be an absolutely egalitarian law. For 52 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,400 example, if we make the law like that, it is not necessarily that everybody 53 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:55,920 earns the same salary. That's not what Rawls is saying. Certain degree of 54 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:04,320 inequality would be acceptable, says Rawls, but it should be according to one 55 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:12,920 principle. Inequalities would be fair if they benefit everybody, not just the 56 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:22,000 privileged, but also the people that are worst off. For example, in society, it 57 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:28,640 would be fair to pay a higher salary to those people that need an important 58 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:35,120 effort in order to learn an important job. For example, if they want to become 59 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:41,200 doctors or engineers, this takes a long time studying and it requires personal 60 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:47,520 sacrifice. So it is fair that they receive an extra amount of money in 61 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:53,560 their salary if they decide to work as engineers or doctors as a compensation 62 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:59,800 for this personal effort, personal sacrifice. But this is not unfair. If we 63 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:05,840 pay extra money to doctors or engineers because they worked harder, that is not 64 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:11,560 unfair because it benefits everybody. Having engineers and having doctors is 65 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,960 beneficial not just for them, but for all society because their job can help also 66 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:18,040 disadvantaged people.