Home / Political objections / Contractualism and Rawlsian justice
"Justice holds among those who have a sense of justice and can make agreements."
Contractualism and Rawlsian justice: the principle
Choose the rules of a society impartially, as if we did not know what position we would occupy in it.
Why excluding animals contradicts the principle
- Rawls himself left animals out of justice, but he recognized duties of compassion toward them.
- The veil of ignorance exists to discount what is luck, like race, sex and talent. Mark Rowlands observed that species is also luck, and so should also go behind the veil (A21).
- Not knowing whether you would be born human or chicken, no one would approve rules that allow chickens to be bred and killed for a meal.
The strongest counter-reply
The most serious version says only those who can follow the rules can be party to the contract.
See also
A21 I respect animals, but humans come firstA23 Morality exists to protect us from each otherA7 No duties, no rights.