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I have no problem with the idea of the veil of ignorance, but what's wrong with the discussion is the fundamental idea that you can use your imagination to desi
by temp8964 4y ago
I have no problem with the idea of the veil of ignorance, but what's wrong with the discussion is the fundamental idea that you can use your imagination to design a society.
Itself is supposed to be a thought experiment, it has no pretention or suggestion that the imagined design could work. Buuuuuuut, tons of people confuse the two and they start think the society can work as how they imagined.
It's like when someone designs a machine, he/she begins with: let's assume there is no gravity. Well, in science actually you can do a thought experiment like that, but that's not how you design a machine! You need to know what the reality is and work with the reality!
If you want to design a society, you need to start with knowledge about the human nature and the nature of a society. You can't just assume everyone is selfless, or assume nobody is going to kill/rob anybody, or assume everyone will work hard, or assume everyone has the same capabilities, or assume a community of a hundred will work like a community of a thousand. There are lots of fundamental knowledge you need to learn. While you are learning more and more about human nature and societies, you will find out there are lot of common features across cultures and societies, and you will find out the whole idea of imagining a society with your simple rule of justice is just so superficial that it's totally laughable.