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Philosophy vocabulary · Key Thinkers' Concepts

Veil of ignorance

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

nounCommon term

In philosophy, veil of ignorance means: John Rawls's thought experiment in which people choose principles of justice without knowing their own place in society, such as their class, talents or gender.

In Turkish: cehalet peçesi, bilgisizlik peçesi

How it is used

Part of the original position in A Theory of Justice (1971). Rawls argued that people behind the veil would choose equal basic liberties and the difference principle. People speak of choosing or reasoning behind the veil of ignorance.

Example sentences

  1. Behind the veil of ignorance, you wouldn't know whether you'd be born rich or poor.

  2. Critics ask whether the veil of ignorance strips away too much of who we are.

Common collocations

  • behind the veil of ignorance
  • the original position
  • the difference principle
  • choose principles of justice
  • justiceThe fair and proper treatment of people, especially in how a society distributes rights, duties, goods and punishments.
  • social contractThe idea that political authority or moral rules are justified because rational people would agree, or have agreed, to accept them for mutual benefit.
  • thought experimentAn imagined scenario used to test a theory or to bring out our intuitions, without carrying out any real experiment.
  • liberalismA tradition in political philosophy that puts individual liberty, equal rights and limits on state power at the center of political life.

More terms: Key Thinkers' Concepts

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