Veils and Ideal Theory

A book written in an unknown language, featuring black text and red section headings, lies open against a transparent background. A torn piece of paper is draped across the center of the open pages, bearing an illustration: In the top left, an olive or tan-toned figure raises its arms toward a blue sky. The rest of the image shows a blue body of water with a green landmass at its center and green banks surrounding it. The illustration’s hues are bright, beckoning, and happy

-Hadley F.

A drawing of the back of a woman staring into a mirror propped on a brown chest of drawers. The mirror contains an outdoor setting with mountains, greenery, trees, a sun, a blue lake, and doves, while the woman stands in an outdoor setting with a hot sun, wildfires, a murky lake, an erupting volcano, and two crows.

….My image attempts to
emulate this idea because the woman is looking into an ideal world in her mirror and
ignores the problems around her. Climate change, deforestation, and pollution are only
a few of the many problems our world faces, and they only continue to get worse when
they are untended. By viewing the world as perfect and only appreciating the natural
beauty around her, the woman is unable to better the world around her…

-Katie S

Four white men and one white woman wearing dark blue formal suits gather around a dark wood pentagon-shaped table in a congressional room. Everyone has a see-through veil over their heads. Three men are sitting at the table, writing with fancy pens on bills. The other three people are looking over their shoulders. There are papers, pens, a book, and a sign stating proposed legislation on the table.

….There is such a difference in
Rawls’s hopeful use of wearing a veil of ignorance versus the blind veil of bias that Congress
wears. I find this juxtaposition interesting because Congress acts and works with so much bias
that is institutionalized. Lobbying is not a shady underground black market system, but it is
mainstream and seen as white collar and going hand in hand with Congress. The use of bias in
Congress is Rawls’s nightmare, and it is also something that I want to critique.
After reflecting on this juxtaposition, I came up with the idea of Congress wearing a
see-through veil while drafting a bill. This image represents how veils act in government because
Congress do not wear veils of ignorance, but instead wear see through veils allowing themselves
to be influenced by bias…

-Jack C.

The image is a close-up of a blind man wearing sunglasses. Through the lens of his sunglasses several images depicting social injustice are represented. A symbol for Black Lives Matter, and a protester holding up a sign saying “EVIL IS NOT TO BE TOLERATED” are depicted in the right lens. A protester speaking with a sign in the background saying “NO TALIBAN” and a scale representing wealth inequality are depicted in the left lens

…Since the man is using the veil of ignorance, he fails to acknowledge or respond to the
injustices presented directly in front of him. This is partly due to the veil’s basis in end-state
theory—a philosophical approach that focuses on imagining a perfectly just society rather than
addressing injustice incrementally. In contrast, transition-state theories focus on how to achieve
justice gradually, through real-world reforms and steps that improve conditions over time
(Valentini, 2012)…

-KJ M.

This image is split in half with what appears to be a rip in the paper. To the right are trees, grass, and a path leading to a perfect city, which appears to be a utopia. To the left, there is a world that seems almost post-apocalyptic, with destroyed buildings, clouds, and debris everywhere.

….I wanted to focus on the absolute extremes that come from ideal and non-ideal theory.
To me, this entire theory is somewhat of a misnomer. For ideal theory, I decided to use essentially a post-apocalyptic world. It is meant to represent that by using ideal theory, or a theory where the
assumption that everyone would follow rules holds true, the real world would not work. If ideal
theory were used in a practical application instead of only a theoretical one, the world would pretty
much fall to pieces. Reality is that most people will not simply follow whatever rules are put into
place, even if those rules are meant to benefit everyone. Thus, the world would realistically fall to
some sort of post-apocalyptic mess, as shown in the left part of the image. The right part of the
image is meant to show a world where a practical (not theoretical) application of non-ideal theory
was applied…”

-Madeleine L.