Rawls

Rawls begins his thought experiment with something he calls the "Original Position." The Original Position is the equivalent to what other political philosopher's call the "state of nature." Like the idea of the state of nature, the Original Position is not something that actually exists in the world itself; rather, it is an idea that serves and functions as a starting point to help facilitate a discussion. To really get into the Original Position we …

…still an ideal, but I think it certainly is an ideal that is well worth striving towards (and I think it is an obtainable ideal). I think of all the political philosophers I have read, Rawls ideal of justice comes closest to what I would consider the ideal. For me, Rawls theory of justice is probably closest to the ideal or (to borrow Plato's word) form of what justice really is in the social context.