Ethics and Society: Rawls, Veil of Ignorance, and Experiments

This essay delves into the realm of ethics and society, examining two key concepts: John Rawls' veil of ignorance and the Stanford Prison Experiment. The essay begins by defining ethics and its significance in decision-making, particularly in societal contexts. It then explores Rawls' concept of the veil of ignorance, explaining how it aids in determining the morality of issues by asking decision-makers to consider choices from an unbiased perspective, devoid of personal circumstances. The essay highlights Rawls' principles of liberty and difference emerging from this hypothetical experiment. The essay also explores criticisms of Rawls' framework. Furthermore, the essay discusses the Stanford Prison Experiment, analyzing its findings on the psychological impact of imprisonment and the roles of prisoners and guards, along with criticisms of the experiment's methodology and ethical considerations. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of ethical considerations in research and societal practices.

Ethics and Society

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Discuss what Rawls means by the veil of ignorance and what principles he believes emerge
from this hypothetical experiment as well as any potential criticism of his ethical framework..3
Discuss and evaluate their finding as well as any criticisms directed at the experiments
themselves....................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Ethics is explained as the moral duty which governs the person’s behaviour or any of the duty
which he or she conducts. It is necessary to understand for any of the person that whenever they
make any of the decision, they must be able to overview the whether ethics has been considered.
Ethics in the society always plays the necessary role, as it allows to deliver correct and fair
decision. In context of the file, two different questions will be addressed which is related with
John Rawls argument related to Veil of Ignorance. Second question will focus towards
experiment and their main finds and their criticism.
MAIN BODY
Discuss what Rawls means by the veil of ignorance and what principles he believes emerge from
this hypothetical experiment as well as any potential criticism of his ethical framework
Veil of Ignorance can be explained as the process which focuses towards methods of
determining the morality of issues. It mainly asks the person who is in the position of taking
decision has the option to choice about the social and moral issues. As per John Rawls, it is
necessary that person must imagine that he sit behind the veil of ignorance which simply allows
the person to identify that who they are even it identifies about the available personal
circumstances. If this can be done, then there will be better opportunity to identify what is right
and what is wrong. It is because person will image himself or herself at a same position which is
will allow to deliver effective decision.
After having the detail analysis on the experiment, John Rawls emerges two different
principles and they are liberty principle and difference principle. As per liberty principle, the
social contract must be try for the purpose of ensuring that each and every people has the
maximum liberty where not creating disturbance in others freedom (Veil of Ignorance, 2020). On
the other side, difference principle states that everyone should be given equal opportunity related
to prosper. If any of the person suffers from the problem, then they must be taken out of that
respective issue. In simple words, both of the principle which has been introduced by the Rawls
talks about the public and how they can be provided the justice in best possible manner.
Although, Rawls has introduced the concept but still there were some of the people who
has found that concept is not favourable for those particular place where concept of equality is

not applicable. It was argued that it is not the favourable experiment because each and every
people will not be benefited from it (Freeman and Gllbert Jr, 2016). Also, it is focuses on cultural
based inequality but in any of the circumstances, it didn’t give priority to other sector where still
concept of inequality is applicable. In short, it was one of those experiment where number of
people were satisfied and even it was helpful for them. But, on the other side some of them said
that it is one of the complete failure which created the issue for the organisation.
Discuss and evaluate their finding as well as any criticisms directed at the experiments
themselves
The experiment which has been selected for this particular question is of “Philip Zimbardo
Stanford prison experiment”. It was one of the most trending experiment which was conducted
by Philip Zimbardo. It is because the major focus was given on the life of prisoners and the
struggle which they have face at the time of staying within the prison. The experiment was done
with the help of student where it was found that life is very difficult within the prison. There are
lots of difficulty which they have to face (Cook and Golombok, 2015). In addition, they have to
suffer from the problem related to the stress and mental harassment because of the problem
which they have to face within the premises of prison. There is no option available for the
prisoner to know about the time and the outside scenario due to which sometime people get
frustrate and those decisions which directly harm their life. It is mandatory for the prisoner to
wear uniform where they are not allowed to were any of under cloths. All of this things makes
the matter bigger which simply states that there are lot of trouble through which an prisoner must
go. Chain on the foot ensures that prisoner will not get the opportunity to run which is mainly
done to increase the security of the premises of jail. All of this actions directly or indirectly affect
the life of a person because their human rights are always affected in it (The Stanford Prison
Experiment: A Simulation Study on the psychology of imprisonment, 2019). It this particular
experiment, it was found that prisoners head is made shaved off and in any of the situation
prisoner must not use their name and instead of that they are require to use ID number which is
being provided them at the time of staying within the prison. At the ends of the experiment,
Philip Zimbardo himself admitted that it was one of the demonstration rather than saying it as a
scientific experiment. It is necessary to understand that it is completed wrong to call as a science
experiment. Although, experiment was conduct but still detail finds where not collected in it
which was the weaker side in it.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it can be explained that ethics has a huge importance within the
society. It is essential to understand that whenever any of the experiment is being conducted, it is
important for the researcher to identify about the positive and negative side of it so that effective
result can be obtained. If any of the experiment has the weaker side, then there are huge chances
that it will not be suitable for the society to implement whenever it is required.
REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Freeman, R. E. and Gllbert Jr, D. R., 2016. Business, ethics and society: A critical
agenda. Business & Society, 31(1), pp.9-17.
Cook, R. and Golombok, S., 2015. Ethics and society: A survey of semen donation: Phase II—
the view of the donors. Human reproduction, 10(4), pp.951-959.
Online
Veil of Ignorance. 2020. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/veil-of-ignorance>
The Stanford Prison Experiment: A Simulation Study on the psychology of imprisonment, 2019.
[Online]. Available Through: < https://www.prisonexp.org/>