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I think the very description that Rawls repeatedly uses of the Original Position as a contract situation is incorrect and misleading.

All of the parties in the Original Position are identical. They all have exactly the same relevant characteristics. There can be no discussion or negotiation or compromise in any ordinary sense. And yet that is what the ordinary vision of a group making a contract implies.

The so-called "group" in the Original Position may as well be one single rational individual thinking through the implications of his or her beliefs.

In this way, thinking of Rawls in the contractarian tradition is a mistake.