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Article: The Morality of Economics How do you define and contribute to a "just" society? A classic philosophy text offers some guidance.
- Article from:
- On Wall Street
- Article date:
- December 1, 2004
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John Rawls was a Harvard philosophy professor-in other words, someone probably not very well known to most financial professionals. But Rawls' classic 1971 book, A Theory of Justice, challenges us to think anew about how we view social justice.
Suppose for a moment that just before you were born, God put you in an isolation booth and gave you the unclouded intellect of a mature adult. You had the power of reasoning, but no specific knowledge. You did not know your place of birth, your nationality, race, creed, religion, family situation, financial position, or state of health. Coming out from under what Rawls termed "a veil of ignorance," you would be asked to ...