In the original position behind a veil of ignorance, one is asked to imagine what kind of distribution schemes one would agree to not knowing one’s place in society ahead of time. I imagine pie charts of various sizes sliced in different ways floating by me. Maybe we can even add Nozick’s games and their rules into the mix. If we are not overwhelmed, we choose and are suddenly given a slice of pie or a starting position in a game. If I ever complain, I am reminded, ‘but this is what you chose’ and this is supposed to satisfy me. But does it really? Think how many things you have chosen that you later regret, or at least wonder about alternatives. Initially choosing a distributive scheme is not sufficient for an ideal society, we must keep choosing it. The preference has to be stable. Rawl’s original position thought problem tells us a lot about what societies we would enter into, not as much about societies we would continue to live in. 

Check out all the work in the collection: The Social Unit