Choosing Principles of Justice

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In the original position, we are behind what he calls a veil of ignorance. We don't know anything about ourselves that might make us different from any one else. All we know about ourselves are the things we know all human beings have in common - self respect and opportunity rather than less. You find out who you are and these qualities about you, but you've chosen the principles that a're going to govern before you knew any of that.

Robert P. George is an American legal scholar and political philosopher. The McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, George is considered one of the foremost conservative intellectuals in America, and advocates a theory of natural law consistent with Catholic belief. With Cornel West, he authored a statement on “Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression.”

In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Robert P. George discuss the political philosophy of John Rawls, why democratic republics can’t function without free speech, and what relevance the first principles of conservatism do or don't retain today.

This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

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