CONCEPT
The Original Position
Rawls's hypothetical choice situation in which rational parties, stripped of knowledge about their particular circumstances by the veil of ignorance, select the principles that will govern the basic structure of their society.
The original position is the formal setting within which Rawls's veil of ignorance operates. It is populated by rational parties charged with a single task: choosing the principles of justice that will govern the institutions they and their descendants will inhabit. The parties possess general knowledge about human societies — economics, sociology, psychology — but no particular knowledge about themselves. They do not know their race, gender, class, talents, conception of the good, religious beliefs, or which generation they belong to. This ignorance is the condition that transforms rational self-interest into a basis for justice. The original position is not a description of any actual moment in history or any actual negotiation. It is a methodological device — the formal structure within which the requirements of impartial reasoning can be made rigorous and their consequences traced with precision.
In The You On AI Field Guide
The original position serves as the contractarian stage on which Rawls's entire theory is