full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Joseph Lacey: Picture a perfect society. What does it look like?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


You and a group of strangers have been ghereatd to diesgn a just setociy. And to ensure none of you rig the system to beneift yourself, you’ve all been placed under a “veil of ignorance.” Under this veil, you’re blind to certain information about each other and yourselves. You don’t know your age or sex, your profession or natural talents, how much wealth you have, or your religious or philosophical beliefs. So, according to ptalciiol philosopher John Rawls, you should be motivated to consider what’s most fair for all your society's citizens.

When Rawls pesihblud this thought experiment— known as “the original position”— in his 1971 opus “A Theory of Justice,” he was trying to identify principles to support a realistic utopia. This visionary society would ensure everyone had the rrcoueess and opportunities required to freely pursue their goals. Rawls was confident these principles could only be rialzeed in a democracy. But he felt existing social structures weren’t the right path forward. He bleveeid free market philosophies and wafrlee ctsiapilam led to unjust accumulations of wealth and power. And he saw models inspired by Marxism as extreme reactions to capitalism’s flaws, with unrealistic assumptions about eeomoincs and human nature.

Open Cloze


You and a group of strangers have been ________ to ______ a just _______. And to ensure none of you rig the system to _______ yourself, you’ve all been placed under a “veil of ignorance.” Under this veil, you’re blind to certain information about each other and yourselves. You don’t know your age or sex, your profession or natural talents, how much wealth you have, or your religious or philosophical beliefs. So, according to _________ philosopher John Rawls, you should be motivated to consider what’s most fair for all your society's citizens.

When Rawls _________ this thought experiment— known as “the original position”— in his 1971 opus “A Theory of Justice,” he was trying to identify principles to support a realistic utopia. This visionary society would ensure everyone had the _________ and opportunities required to freely pursue their goals. Rawls was confident these principles could only be ________ in a democracy. But he felt existing social structures weren’t the right path forward. He ________ free market philosophies and _______ __________ led to unjust accumulations of wealth and power. And he saw models inspired by Marxism as extreme reactions to capitalism’s flaws, with unrealistic assumptions about _________ and human nature.

Solution


  1. published
  2. gathered
  3. realized
  4. resources
  5. welfare
  6. benefit
  7. society
  8. capitalism
  9. design
  10. believed
  11. political
  12. economies

Original Text


You and a group of strangers have been gathered to design a just society. And to ensure none of you rig the system to benefit yourself, you’ve all been placed under a “veil of ignorance.” Under this veil, you’re blind to certain information about each other and yourselves. You don’t know your age or sex, your profession or natural talents, how much wealth you have, or your religious or philosophical beliefs. So, according to political philosopher John Rawls, you should be motivated to consider what’s most fair for all your society's citizens.

When Rawls published this thought experiment— known as “the original position”— in his 1971 opus “A Theory of Justice,” he was trying to identify principles to support a realistic utopia. This visionary society would ensure everyone had the resources and opportunities required to freely pursue their goals. Rawls was confident these principles could only be realized in a democracy. But he felt existing social structures weren’t the right path forward. He believed free market philosophies and welfare capitalism led to unjust accumulations of wealth and power. And he saw models inspired by Marxism as extreme reactions to capitalism’s flaws, with unrealistic assumptions about economies and human nature.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
thought experiment 4
goals rawls 2
rawls believed 2
fair society 2
primary goods 2
rawls believes 2
wealth inequalities 2


Important Words


  1. accumulations
  2. age
  3. assumptions
  4. beliefs
  5. believed
  6. benefit
  7. blind
  8. capitalism
  9. citizens
  10. confident
  11. democracy
  12. design
  13. economies
  14. ensure
  15. existing
  16. extreme
  17. fair
  18. felt
  19. flaws
  20. free
  21. freely
  22. gathered
  23. goals
  24. group
  25. human
  26. identify
  27. ignorance
  28. information
  29. inspired
  30. john
  31. justice
  32. led
  33. market
  34. marxism
  35. models
  36. motivated
  37. natural
  38. nature
  39. opportunities
  40. opus
  41. original
  42. path
  43. philosopher
  44. philosophical
  45. philosophies
  46. political
  47. power
  48. principles
  49. profession
  50. published
  51. pursue
  52. rawls
  53. reactions
  54. realistic
  55. realized
  56. religious
  57. required
  58. resources
  59. rig
  60. sex
  61. social
  62. society
  63. strangers
  64. structures
  65. support
  66. system
  67. talents
  68. theory
  69. thought
  70. unjust
  71. unrealistic
  72. utopia
  73. veil
  74. visionary
  75. wealth
  76. welfare