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What is justice? Have you ever wondered what this concept means?

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For example, how should we make our rules in society, our laws, so that they are just?

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Is there a right procedure to make legislation that guarantees that these laws are going to be fair and just?

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The American philosopher John Rawls created a theory of justice.

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answer this important question. He created a model, a procedure, so that we

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could create rules that are fair and just for everybody. His theory is quite

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abstract, so let me explain it with an imaginary example. Imagine that a great

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inventor has created a machine that can destroy you and transform you into a

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completely different person this revolutionary machine works like this you

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enter the machine you press a button and then you disappear and immediately you

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reappear you reappear in another body so maybe you are someone of a different age

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of a different gender, maybe, of a different religion, of a different wealth. You don't know

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who you're going to be after going through this machine. How can this machine help us to create

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just norms? Imagine that we use this machine in the process of making norms.

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Let's make the norms following this procedure. We're going to talk, we're going to discuss,

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And we're going to make the laws, finding an agreement after we talk.

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But later, once that we have created the law, everybody must go through the machine.

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So you don't know who you're going to be when the law will be applied.

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How would this change your way of making the law?

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If you really don't know who you're going to be, would you make a law that discriminates people?

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It would be quite stupid because you might be one of them after going through the machine.

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So our law would be fair because you don't know if you are going to appear in the body of someone who has problems

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or who has health problems or who is poor or who has a different gender or race.

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Of course, John Rawls didn't speak about this machine.

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In his book, The Theory of Justice, he proposed a model, though, that is quite similar.

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He said, if we want our laws to be just, we should try to make them with equity.

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And this can only be done if we create the law under a veil of ignorance.

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What is this? A veil of ignorance means that you don't know who you really are. So, instead of

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making laws that benefit you or the group you belong to, you should forget, make an effort to

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ignore the kind of person that you are. Imagine that you don't know who you are and then try to

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make the rules, forgetting the particular group you belong to. If you do that, the laws will be

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fair. This imaginary situation in which everybody makes the law under a veil of ignorance, meaning

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not taking into account their particular interests or circumstances, is called by John Rawls the

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original position. So what he says in his book is, the law will be fair and just if it is made

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under a veil of ignorance in the original position. Because in this case, we will take

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into account all different perspectives, and we will not try to favor our particular standpoint.

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it. How would a certain law look like if we do it following this method? John Rawls thought that

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the law that is done under a veil of ignorance and in the original position will have two

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characteristics. It will follow the principle of equality and also it will follow the principle

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of difference. The principle of equality says that we will make rules that treat people with

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equality, with equity, that give equal rights, benefits, and freedoms to everybody, that give

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the same opportunities to everybody, regardless of the group they belong to or of their particular

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circumstances. But there is also a principle of difference, because if we make the rules under

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a veil of ignorance, we will try to favor specially disadvantaged people in order to

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re-establish equity. Now, it is important that you realize that the law made according to this

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procedure need not be an absolutely egalitarian law. For example, if we make the law like that,

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It is not necessary that everybody earns the same salary.

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That's not what Rawls is saying.

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Certain degree of inequality would be acceptable, says Rawls,

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but it should be according to one principle.

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Inequalities would be fair if they benefit everybody,

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not just the privileged, but also the people that are worst off.

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For example, in society, it would be fair to pay a higher salary to those people that need an important effort in order to learn an important job.

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For example, if they want to become doctors or engineers, this takes a long time studying and it requires personal sacrifice.

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So it is fair that they receive an extra amount of money in their salary if they decide to work as engineers or doctors as a compensation for this personal effort, personal sacrifice.

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but this is not unfair if we pay extra money to doctors or engineers because

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they worked harder that is not unfair because it benefits everybody having

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engineers and having doctors is beneficial not just for them but for all

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society because their job can help also disadvantaged people