POLITICAL THEORY - John Rawls

How do you get a society that provides basic decent services to all citizens? Political theorist John Rawls had a good idea, and it was called 'the veil of ignorance.'

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CREDITS

Produced in collaboration with Mike Booth

[jopantes]

When we were first introduced to Rawls and the "veil of ignorance", our teacher explained it with a simple allegory. Imagine it's your birthday and your parents throw a party for you and your friends. When the time to cut the cake comes, your mother tells you "Now, you can cut the cake in whatever way you want to; however, you cannot choose the slice that you'll get to have.". Maybe you'd like a bigger slice of that cake, but since you don't want to risk getting a small slice, you just decide to cut equal slices for everybody.
Perhaps it's rather pointless to post this here, but I thought it was an interestingly easy way for even children to understand this concept. WELLP. Have a good day.

[enomura]

There seems to be a lot of confusion on the position that Rawls takes, probably because the video is so short. YumeYume commented about a cake example, where everyone might get an equal slice. This isn't a pure representation of Rawls. Rawl's theory acknowledges that everyone will be getting different size slices of cake, but the slice of cake that is the MOST important is the smallest slice. Make the smallest slice as large as possible and you're golden. But wouldn't that make every slice the same any way? No, not if you consider disabilities, children, or elderly. These people will generally not receive the largest slices of cake on their own merit, so aid will be given to them to "make their slice bigger." Your small business hit rock bottom and you're bankrupt? The "original position" will create policies to give aid to you to allow you to pick yourself back up.

I feel like the video was somewhat misunderstood when implying Rawls is a solution to individual unfairness. Rawls is only concerned with societal fairness, however prioritizes the least advantaged in society. Sometimes it makes the most sense to give someone a big slice if it will boost the size of someone else's.

[drewery]

Buddy I've just listened to about 10 of these videos in a row. Each was more brilliant than the one before. Kudos to your talent, and thank you for the quality of the product.

[dipro]

My goal in academia: do something valuable enough to the point when then School of Life makes a video about it.

[acelaskey]

Being able to sum up an entire philosophy in 6-8 minutes is really impressive, and your work is exceptional. I would really appreciate something on John Locke, another cornerstone on the formation of government and State of Nature. Accordingly, something on Nozick would be great as well. Thank you for your works!

[GentrifiedPotato]

I remember a thought experiment in my school where we were tasked with creating a society, but we didn't know ahead of time if we'd be on the bottom rung or the top rung of that society. Seems my Social Studies teacher had been studying Rawls.

[shitabdaiyanakash]

I had to come back to this video; I'm currently reading Rawls for life purposes and no academic intention whatsoever so far. This video was my starting point. I was and remain inspired.

[Raw]

Every time I tune into this channel, I leave with more confidence in humanity and less apathetic to circumstances outside my immediate control. Thank you. Please do not stop.

[alexahansen]

please provide closed caption for deaf viewers. I would love to watch this.

[puertoriconnect]

These are the best videos I've seen on philosophy. They make everything easy to understand, provide a nice visual with a stylized look, and manage to do so in such a short amount of time.

I wouldn't mind hearing these ideas talked about for hours in a podcast format. Whoever is behind writing these summaries of philosophers no doubt has a great understanding of theses ideas and I'd love to hear them discussed in further detail.

[Douglas-dqgg]

LOL, who come here because you have to write an essay.

[Grahamnut]

Great Video. After taking a class on Modern Political Philosophy, I can say that this video contains all the really important ideas Rawls brings to the table. Many people would find Rawls rather difficult to read, but this video really highlights the ideas that the average person needs to consider by themselves on their own. Keep up the work! I enjoy all the videos this channel makes.

[lancertriangle]

If John Rawls is going to be covered, then certainly doing a video on Robert Nozick would be a must?

[beachmorrow]

All free societies are unfair. Only by force can they be made completely fair. Utopian ideals forced on society end up with millions dead (say the Cultural Revolution, Soviet purges, Jacobin bloodletting, etc).
We still should help the poor as responsible citizens. We should create opportunity for those at the lowest income levels.
Just remember any utopia always equals someone's dystopia!

[Majoofi]

I'd like to hear what Rawls thought about Clinton.

[adambomb]

@The School of Life, +The School of Life, I would really love to see some videos on Anarchist Political theorists, Particularly that of the libertarian Socialist variety.Such as Emma Goldman, or perhaps Pierre Joseph Proudhon.Though not exactly a libertarian socialist, he is vastly important in the development of anarchism.This is one of my favorite channels so keep spreading knowledge.

[willferrous]

this 'veil of ignorance' experiment is brilliant

[ejones]

The way that the transcript has source links to the images and a good deal of information...this is on another level of academia 👏

[jasonschneijder]

This is why I think the right to equal opportunity in the Netherlands is so important!

[Hallgrenoid]

The veil of ignorance is a brilliant thought experiment. Thanks for your incredibly informative and well narrated videos!