John Rawls' Theory of Justice - Essay Example

& Number: John Rawls Theory of Justice (Moral Decision Making) 10 August (word count - 334) John Rawls had his theory of justice based on the concept of a social contract. Social contract is an intellectual or philosophical construct in which originally free individuals agree to give up some of their natural rights in favor of a social system or a political organization. It will help the individuals being governed to live in a society that is bound by common laws for the protection and benefit of each individual.

Each individual therefore agrees to be bound by commonly-accepted rules and conventions in the society in return for protection from all harm and violence normally present in a society of human beings. This social contract is the basis in which people can live in harmony and is necessary because humans are social animals and the absence of any social contract will tend to destroy any society as there will be deviants in it. A theory of justice as propounded and conceptualized by John Rawls depends on two things: the original position which is highly hypothetical in that the principles of justice are selected and implemented from his so-called “veil of ignorance” in which people lack any ulterior aim or motive and therefore presumed to act in the best interests of everybody in that society.

In his theory, the original position assumes everyone starts out being equal initially and gradually in turn seeks out the best possible solutions in which possible gains are maximized and possible losses are minimized (the maximin principle) in a heuristics fashion (a trial and error method). Everyone works for the betterment of everyone and disregards any probable gains for oneself (without hidden agendas or ulterior motives whatsoever). The veil of ignorance presumes a lot in a world in which men are naturally greedy and works against the principle of basic instinct in which the rule of self-preservation often prevails.

I would dare say it is not a workable idea at all since it assumes complete innocence and conflates all people into one (Freyenhagen 54).Work CitedFreyenhagen, Fabian. The Legacy of John Rawls. New York, NY, USA: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005. Print.