"We are not to think of the original position as an actual assembly."

"The original position is a hypothetical situation, not an actual historical state of affairs."

"The idea of a political conception of justice is that it applies to the basic structure of society and is independent of any comprehensive philosophical or religious doctrine."

"The general conception of justice requires that all social primary goods—liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self-respect—are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distr…"

"The intuitive idea is that since everyone's well-being depends upon a scheme of cooperation without which no one could have a satisfactory life, the division of advantages should be such as to draw fo…"