COMM 2273 Lecture Notes - Lecture 70: John Rawls, Rational Agent, Thought Experiment

• School: University of Arkansas-Monticello
• Department: Communication
• Course: COMM 2273
• Professor: Key

Document Summary

First, the veil of ignorance deprives people of so much information about themselves that they aren"t capable of making a rational choice. It is impossible to reason or make a rational choice without knowing the things that we, individually, value. Second, this theory requires rational deliberators to make choice on their own behind the veil of ignorance. Since the ac/nc never speaks to what a rational actor would do, or what rationality is, it relies on external ethical theories to be true. Third, the rawlsian thought experiment fails because it is impossible to reason from an impartial perspective. Ignoring one"s identity is incompatible with conceiving of persons as actors because morality can only be found in the interaction of real unique persons, not in the interaction of their rational essences. Fourth, some human beings don"t behave rationally or act in their self-interest. For instance, i might reason that it would be good to study, but play video games instead.