Behind the veil of ignorance: designing a fair society from scratch
Two students unpack John Rawls's famous thought experiment; groups then write the rules for a new island community without knowing who they'll be.
C2Adults60 minProblem solving
About this lesson
A C2 speaking lesson (problem solving). Warm-ups, role plays and discussion tasks — get the whole class talking.
- Level
- C2
- Skill
- Speaking
- Type
- Problem solving
- Students
- Adults
- Time
- About 60 minutes
- Topic
- Society & big questions
- Activities
- Key words, Speaking / writing task, Reading text, Multiple choice, Matching
- Key words
- a thought experiment, the worst-off, to rig something, a safety net, inheritance, redistribution, the stakes
- Access
- Premium
By the end, students can
- Apply a philosophical thought experiment to practical decisions about fairness in society
- Reason through hypotheses, conditions and consequences in precise, academic spoken English