Rawls and Fairness The problems with a more hands-on concept of
fairness.  Thomas Sowell  Most of us want to be fair, in the
sense of treating everyone equally. We want laws to be applied
the same to everyone. We want educational, economic, or other
criteria for rewards to be the same as well. But this concept of
fairness is not only different from prevailing ideas of fairness
among many of the intelligentsia, it contradicts their idea of
fairness.  People like philosopher John Rawls call treating
everyone alike merely “formal” fairness. Professor Rawls
advocated “a conception of justice that nullifies the accidents
of natural endowment and the contingencies of social
circumstances.” He called for a society which “arranges” end
results, rather than simply treating everyone the same and
letting the chips fall where they may.  This more hands-on
concept of fairness gives third parties a much bigger role to
play. But whether any human being has ever had the omniscience
to determine and undo the many differences