Editing Original position (section)

==Criticisms==
In ''[[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]]'' (1974), [[Robert Nozick]] argues that, while the original position may be the just starting point, any inequalities derived from that distribution by means of free exchange are equally just, and that any re-distributive tax is an infringement on people's liberty. He also argues that Rawls's application of the maximin rule to the original position is risk aversion taken to its extreme, and is therefore unsuitable even to those behind the veil of ignorance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Nozick |first=Robert |title=Anarchy, State, and Utopia |publisher=Basic Books |year=1974 |isbn=978-0465097203}}</ref>

In ''[[Liberalism and the Limits of Justice]]'' (1982),<ref>{{cite book |last=Sandel |first=Michael |title=Liberalism and the Limits of Justice |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0521567411}}</ref> [[Michael Sandel]] has criticized Rawls's notion of a veil of ignorance, pointing out that it is impossible, for an individual, to completely prescind from beliefs and convictions (from the Me ultimately), as is required by Rawls's thought experiment.

In a 1987 empirical research study,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Frohlich |first1=Norman |last2=Oppenheimer |first2=Joe A. |last3=Eavey |first3=Cheryl L. |year=1987 |title=Choices of Principles of Distributive Justice in Experimental Groups |journal=American Journal of Political Science |volume=31 |pages=606–636 |doi=10.2307/2111285 |jstor=2111285 |number=3}}</ref> Frohlich, Oppenheimer, and Eavey showed that, in a simulated original position, undergraduates at American universities agreed upon a distributive principle that maximizes the average with a specified floor constraint (a minimum for the worst-off in any given distribution) over maximizing the floor or the average alone. 

In ''[[How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time]]'' (2008), [[Iain King]] argues that people in the original position should not be risk-averse, leading them to adopt the ''Help Principle'' (help someone if your help is worth more to them than it is to you) rather than maximin.<ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Iain |title=[[How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time|How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time: Solving the Riddle of Right and Wrong]] |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2008 |isbn=9781847063472 |pages=77–78}}</ref>

Philosopher and Law Professor Harold Anthony Lloyd argues that Rawls's veil of ignorance is hardly hypothetical but instead dangerously real since individuals cannot know at any point in time the future either for themselves or for others (or in fact know all aspects of either their relevant past or present). Faced with the high stakes of such ignorance, careful egoism effectively becomes altruism by minimizing/sharing risk through social safety nets and other means such as insurance.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Harold Anthony |date=March 2, 2016 |title=Beyond Rawls' Fiction: The Veil of Ignorance Is Real |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-rawls-fiction-the_b_9365888 |access-date=March 2, 2024 |website=[[HuffPost]] Contributors blog}}</ref>