Veil of Ignorance - Examples

Examples

An application of the veil of ignorance towards a recognition of the worst-off members of society is captured in Mahatma Gandhi's Talisman, given in 1948.

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

The veil of ignorance is part of the long tradition of thinking in terms of a social contract. The writings of Immanuel Kant, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and Thomas Jefferson offer examples of this tradition.

Science fiction writer David Barr Kirtley examined this concept in his short story, "Veil of Ignorance".

Read more about this topic:  Veil Of Ignorance

Famous quotes containing the word examples:

    It is hardly to be believed how spiritual reflections when mixed with a little physics can hold people’s attention and give them a livelier idea of God than do the often ill-applied examples of his wrath.
    —G.C. (Georg Christoph)

    In the examples that I here bring in of what I have [read], heard, done or said, I have refrained from daring to alter even the smallest and most indifferent circumstances. My conscience falsifies not an iota; for my knowledge I cannot answer.
    Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

    Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends.
    Alexander Pope (1688–1744)