John Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance

JOHN RAWLS was one of the most influential political philosophers of the twentieth century, reshaping how we think about justice and fairness in society. Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1921, Rawls grew up during a time of stark inequality and witnessed firsthand how accidents of birth could determine a person's entire life trajectory. He studied at Princeton University and later taught at Harvard, where his ideas about a just society took their most powerful form. His landmark 1971 book, A THEORY OF JUSTICE, argued that a truly fair society cannot be built on luck, privilege, or inherited advantage. Rawls believed that JUSTICE itself must be designed from the ground up, using reason rather than bias. His work continues to shape political philosophy, economics, law, and public policy around the world today.