Have you ever been asked the question, “If you were stranded on an island, what three items would you bring with you?” or something similar? I find these questions very fun to think about. You get to be inventive, funny, or really buckle down to think critically on it.
Virtually everyone has been given the opportunity to split something in half to share with another person. Like cake. If you have one slice of cake and two people, the person who cuts usually chooses second. There is a name for this philosophy: Divide and Choose. Assuming an equal desire to eat cake, this practice ensures the person who cuts the cake will make the slices as close to equal size as possible. The purpose is to produce fairness and equality. To illustrate the practice’s antiquity: Abram and Lot use this method to divide land in Genesis, Chapter 13.
Let’s combine the creativity and critical thinking of the island scenario with the fairness and morality from the Divide and Choose philosophy to answer this question: What is a method we can use to create a society in which we find desirable? There may be many ways to answer this, and I encourage you to ponder it for a time.
I stumbled upon an answer in a most unlikely fashion. I recently watched an episode of the West Wing (9.8 out of 10 stars) where Joshua Malina’s character, Will Bailey, introduced the Veil of Ignorance. For context, he was responding to a question regarding the moral grounds for taxing the super wealthy at a higher rate: “It’s called the Veil of Ignorance. Imagine, before you are born you don’t know anything about who you will be; your ethnicity, position, abilities.”
So I looked it up. The idea comes from John Rawls, author of The Theory of Justice, and goes like this: future citizens are in an Original Position behind a veil. They must create a society with laws and rules that they wish to live in. The designed society lies on the other side of this veil. “No one knows his place in society, his class position or social status; nor does he know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence and strength, and the like.” describes Rawls.
In other words, when it comes time to lift the veil, there is a lottery for what or who you will be. One doesn’t know if they will be a woman, a man, what heritage they will have, if they will be born with a disability, which gender they will be (let alone which gender they will be attracted to), what their theological perspective will be, etc. Would considering these attributes unknown help us create an ideal society?
For practice of this philosophical thought, let’s use the Original Position and Veil of Ignorance to illustrate how slavery is unjustifiable. In 1860, the state of Mississippi had approximately 790,000 people. About 55% of the total population were slaves. Had the citizens of Mississippi moved to the Original Position side of the veil and asked the question, “Should 55% of the state’s populations be slaves?” it’s very unlikely anyone would say yes, because the chances were good they would be a slave once the veil was lifted.
Only the living make decisions, and since we have lived we are biased based on our experiences. This isn’t inherently evil, nor is it inherently good. However, it also doesn’t necessarily lead to solutions for societal problems. It is important to then step on the other side of the veil to attain a quasi-third-party perspective.
Humans can use philosophy to help make sense of what otherwise could be moral dilemmas. It should be noted that the Veil of Ignorance isn’t a golden ticket model. Some problems will persist, and other methods may need to be applied to find resolutions.
I encourage you to step behind the veil. See what society you create in your mind.
Cheers.
P.s. I would bring a kayak, a paddle, and umbrella.
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