Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 14

Philosophy - Essay Example apitalism in essence can be neither egalitarian nor authoritative, while Rawls felt that capitalism could afford basic rights and liberties to all while still allowing people to pursue their own desires. As these are contradictory viewpoint, they both cannot be correct. It is my position that Rawls’ theory is idealistic and doesn’t have much in common with the society in which we actually live, and that Kristol’s theory stands as the stronger of the two. Rawls’ basic conception of social justice is dependent upon two claims: 1) that people should have the most amount of personal liberty possible that is compatible with others’ and 2) that it is possible to arrange inequalities in regards to social and economic status so that can be to the advantages of all. Rawls’ position is an extrapolation of the idea of the social contract; the social contract is the idea that people enter into an agreement with each other and form a system by which they all agree to be governed. How Rawls’ idea differs is that he views justice as the that which is the product of the agreement, as opposed to a particular form of government. To differentiate his conception with previous ideas, he refers to his idea as ‘justice as fairness.’ Rawls feels that his two basic principles would be agreed upon by rational people. He feels that people, in order for his conception of social justice to work, must not be aware of their own individual assets, as far as natural abilities, dispositions, place in society, etc. This is where his idea of the ‘veil of ignorance’ comes in; the veil of ignorance makes everybody fair and equal, as there would be no way for a person to create an advantage over another through their own personal abilities. This would be most desirable because it would be the most fair, and any rational person would agree to enter into this sort of arrangement. In theory, this plan might sound ideal, but the problem is that there is no real life way to