A Society of Fairness, Based on Rawls’ Difference Principles Essay

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John Rawls suggested that putting on the “veil of ignorance” allows people to make decisions about moral and social issues without being prejudiced. This paper aims to examine Rawls’ difference principle through the “veil of ignorance” and observe the creation of a visionary society of fairness, which would secure equal basic liberties such as rights to freedom of speech, assembly, and religion, as well as individual dignity, social and economic equality. Generally, the principles of liberty and equality should be the foundation of a society of fairness.

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Socially just allocation of income, wealth, and resources is the basis for distributive justice. It is possible to apply Rawls’ difference principle here, which allows relative equality if it works for the benefit of the disadvantaged. Under the difference principle, there might be some affluent individuals who would serve as an integral part of the system working for the advantage of the least prosperous. For instance, profitable professions would exist to support the disadvantaged by paying substantial amounts of taxes. Therefore, the borders between the wealthy and the poor might be blurred, which would end economic inequality.

However, for the proper functioning of a just society, it is necessary to create incentives to keep affluent people at the positions offering economic support to the bottom layer of society. Taking some part of the income from the wealthy in the form of taxes might be considered coercive, and thus, violating human rights. Instead, it might be worth providing moral incentives to the advantaged and educating them on the norms of fairness to encourage the implementation of equal opportunities for all. For instance, hiring disadvantaged workers on fair terms might create a constant supply of quality workforce and promote economic and social equality at the workplace.

Retributive justice is another aspect of a society of fairness. It is based on several foundational principles, such as proportional suffering for those who committed crimes, the presence of a legitimate figure to exercise punishment, and a moral prohibition to punish the innocent or to impose disproportionally severe punishment on criminals. Freedom of speech, assembly, conscience, or thought may never be limited by law enforcement or judicial system in a society of fairness, and their abuse would be considered a crime. The jury should be comprised of individuals from diverse backgrounds and social statuses, including minorities, who would determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. However, a judge would not be present during trials, since such an authoritative and advantaged figure might cause social inequality and become the source of prejudice. Norms of punishment would be defined depending on the severity of a crime, following the principle of proportional suffering. Thus, brutal crimes such as murder would be punished accordingly via a lifelong prison sentence. Additionally, any punishment should respect human dignity and never be degrading or cruel, which rules out the option of the death penalty.

Restorative justice (resistive justice) emphasizes the need for repairing the harm done to individuals, communities, and businesses. Restorative justice might be used in cases of minor crimes, breaches of contracts, and failures to perform professional duties. For example, a minor offense may be redeemed by compensating the damages or harm involved in it. In cases of a breach of contract (i.e., bank loan contract), no legal action would be taken before the sides try to reach an agreement. If legal action is taken, both parties should be considered equal in court and able to protect their rights with free and just support from lawyers. Finally, failure to perform one’s duties would be penalized only if it is justified. The social and economic status of an individual would make no difference in the consequences following the violation. Moreover, illnesses, incidents, and other events beyond human power should be taken into consideration before determining whether a penalty would be imposed. On the whole, the principles of liberty and equality applied to distributive, retributive, and restorative justice might create the foundation for a society of fairness.

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IvyPanda. 2022. "A Society of Fairness, Based on Rawls’ Difference Principles." September 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-society-of-fairness-based-on-rawls-difference-principles/.

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IvyPanda. "A Society of Fairness, Based on Rawls’ Difference Principles." September 7, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-society-of-fairness-based-on-rawls-difference-principles/.

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