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The meaning of 'relative to equally virtual members'

English Language & Usage Asked on March 12, 2021

Rawls’s veil of ignorance may be intellectually sophisticated, but it is also very alien to our lived experience as humans. How can we imagine ourselves as deliberating, disembodied humans and at the same time situate ourselves relative to equally virtual members of a yet-to-be-established ideal community?(Jonathan Conlin, Critical Lives-Adam Smith)

What does the emphasized phrase mean?

One Answer

At first I thought it might be a typo for "equally virtuous, but after consideration I now think they mean...

almost a particular thing or quality

Cambridge

"relative to equally virtual members "

The discussion seems to be about an entity which existed only in the mind(s) of certain philosophers, and was expected to be established at some time in the future, just a distant future. Hence the almost.

However, the 2 ideas seem to be dichotomous to the writer, and possibly contradictory.

The quoted text is a little unclear in its intent. Perhaps a careful re-reading of the surrounding context would shed more light, but I don't see myself going there for something which might be better explained at another SE site.

Answered by Cascabel on March 12, 2021

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