Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 20.

In particular, parties consider two alternatives: a utilitarian conception of justice according to which «a society is properly arranged when its institutions maximize the net balance of satisfaction» 1 - Rawls, J. Those principles are to apply to the main political and social institutions which together distribute the core benefits and burdens of social life (the basic structure of society). They envisage different sets of principles under which they, and their descendants, will have to live their whole life. The parties are behind the veil of ignorance, but still aware of social and natural facts which affect human societies. They do not know their particular conception of the good life, their place in society, class position, social status, race or ethnic group, sex, intelligence, natural endowments, and so on -they are behind a veil of ignorance. In it, we are to imagine parties conceived as free and equal persons in ignorance of their individual social, natural and historical characteristics. The original position is intended to constitute a fair and impartial perspective on the question of justice. Rawls argues that, taken together, these considerations lead to his two principles of justice. The original position is a thought experiment which is designed to express in the simplest, and also the most compelling, way the considerations which bear on our deliberation about principles of social justice.

My aim, in this brief note, is to clarify the main purpose of the original position and to articulate its main defining features in contrast to this dominant misreading. In particular, John Rawls’ method of reasoning behind the veil of ignorance is frequently presented as drawing a conclusion mandated by rational choice theory. Yet, as renowned as the original position has become, it is also typically misrepresented and misunderstood. It has captured the attention of readers across the world through many generations of students, and is famous well beyond philosophical circles. The original position has an elegance and power beyond most philosophical pictures.

Rawls 1999 a theory of justice