Liberal Jurisprudence and Abstracted Visions of Human Nature: A Feminist Critique of Rawls' Theory of Justice

theory-building devices reminiscent of other well-known philosophical abstractions, such as the state of nature. The use of veil imagery is itself interesting. In much of veil imagery-the bridal veil, the Muslim veil-it is women-as-object behind the veil. Women, representing in patriarchal discourse intuition, emotion, sexuality, nurturing and the antithesis of reason, would disrupt the cool theory-building Rawls proposes. Behind Rawls' veil, woman-thinking, the terrifying Other, is abstracted out.22 Rawls gives explicit priority to abstraction, following the Kantian tradition.23 He states repeatedly that he intends to carry social contract theory to a "higher level of abstraction." 24 He begins his theory at the highest level of abstraction-the original position-gradually admitting more reference to concrete reality as the theory becomes more solid. The Theory, Rawls allows, is subject to challenge with observations from the day-today of human life.25 It is only safe to do this, however, once we have accepted the primary value of liberty. Our understanding of reality will be controlled and improved because we started at the rarefied level and experienced certain revelations there. Our darker impulses will be suppressed because abstraction will have revealed what justice as fairness