The veil of ignorance
The veil of ignorance is a thought experiment for fairness: design the rules of a society — or any deal — as if you didn’t know which position in it you’d occupy. Not knowing your wealth, talents, or identity, you’d choose rules fair to every position.
How does the veil of ignorance work?
Stripping away knowledge of your own stake removes the self-interest that warps judgments of fairness. Behind the veil you must weigh the worst-off outcome as if it could be yours, so you tend to pick rules that protect everyone, not just the lucky.
Design the rules as if you didn't know which place in society you'd occupy.
How do you use the veil of ignorance?
- Testing fairness: ask “would I accept this rule if I didn’t know which side of it I’d be on?”
- Designing systems, contracts, or splits where you want a result that’s defensible to all parties.
- Reducing self-serving bias in policy or product decisions that distribute benefit and burden.
What does the veil of ignorance look like in practice?
Asked to cut a cake fairly, the person who cuts takes the last slice — they’ll divide it evenly because they don’t know which piece they’ll get. The veil generalises this: choose the rule before you know your place, and self-interest produces fairness.
Where does the veil of ignorance fail?
It’s an idealisation — real people can’t fully shed self-knowledge, and critics argue the “original position” quietly assumes particular attitudes to risk. It clarifies fairness; it doesn’t settle every disagreement about justice.
- It evaluates end-states, not transitions — a fair arrangement may be unreachable from here without steps the veil itself would condemn.
- People behind the veil still need facts about how rules play out, so empirical disagreements survive the thought experiment intact.
- It strains when stakeholders can't be occupied as positions — future generations, animals, or institutions don't slot cleanly into the exercise.
The counter-model: Skin in the game — The veil strips deciders of their stakes to find fairness; skin in the game insists deciders bear consequences — sound rule-making needs both tests.
How do you apply the veil of ignorance, step by step?
- Take the rule, deal, or policy you are designing and list every position it creates — winners, losers, administrators, outsiders.
- Imagine you will be assigned one of those positions at random.
- Rewrite any term you would not accept in the worst position.
- Check the revised rule still works from the strongest position too.
- Adopt the version you would sign before knowing your place.
Frequently asked
- What is the veil of ignorance?
- A thought experiment in which you choose the principles of a fair society without knowing your own place in it, so the rules are fair to everyone, especially the worst-off.
- Who came up with the veil of ignorance?
- Philosopher John Rawls, in his 1971 book A Theory of Justice, as part of the “original position”.
- How do you use the veil of ignorance in everyday decisions?
- Ask whether you’d accept a rule or split if you didn’t know which side of it you’d be on — a quick test that strips out self-interest.
Related
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Emergence
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Go deeper
The book behind this idea: A Theory of Justice by John Rawls. Hear the whole thing free — start an Audible trial and your first audiobook is on the house.
Read the full summary of A Theory of Justice →
More canonical picks:
- Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman
- The Art of Thinking Clearly — Rolf Dobelli
- The Great Mental Models, Volume 1 — Shane Parrish
- Poor Charlie’s Almanack — Charlie Munger
- Super Thinking — Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCann
- Seeking Wisdom — Peter Bevelin
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Cite this page
ReadGlobe. (2026). The veil of ignorance. https://readglobe.com/model/veil-of-ignorance/
"The veil of ignorance." ReadGlobe, 30 June 2026, readglobe.com/model/veil-of-ignorance/.
Primary source: Wikipedia
Editorial synthesis © ReadGlobe 2026, drawing on the mental-models tradition (Charlie Munger, Farnam Street) and the primary sources for each model. · Last reviewed 2026-06-30.