Reclaiming the realm of politics.

Politics in the contemporary world is characterised by a hyper attention on the self as a basic starting point. The vast majority of citizens begin their analyses with the conditions around them by considering the nature of their own lives and particular circumstances, and it is only after their needs and desires are addressed do they begin to think of others. This perverse culture of narcissism has fuelled libertarian notions of 'live and let live' and 'survival of the fittest' - which function to divert attention from structural imbalances in power relations responsible for primary grievances in the first place.

Philosopher John Rawls, in his notion of 'the veil of ignorance', offers a departure from this modality. He argues that policies ought to be deliberated upon from the assumption that one does not, in fact, know their own identity in society. In other words, he encourages a move beyond particular concerns, grievances and preferences: replacing them with a broader, bird's eye view of the polity. This, he claims, will reorient approaches to 'the political' in a manner that ensures the forest is not missed for the trees. The key point here is that when people are not aware of who they might be, they will - as a default - optimise for the possibility of being amongst the most vulnerable: simply as a precautionary measure. When enough citizens are on board with this programme, it will function to lift the 'floor' (most marginalised) on an ongoing basis - leading to a net overall improvement in the quality of lives.

An important premise for Rawls is that the real world is not much different to his 'veil of ignorance' - whereby everyone experiences both advantages and disadvantages purely due to the accident of birth. Being born into privilege opens up access to certain perks, assets, networks, etc that collectively function as a kind of escalator - in which the person in question will almost as a default move upwards, regardless of their contribution to society. On the other hand, being born into poverty restricts access to even the fundamentals: education, healthcare, housing, access to information, etc - which combine to obstruct even the most talented individuals from 'self-actualising' and creating an impact in the world. Stephen Gould, a pioneering evolutionary biologist, put it best: 'I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived...