The Right to Justification

Contemporary philosophical pluralism recognizes the inevitability and legitimacy of multiple ethical perspectives and moral outlooks, making it difficult to base a theory of justice on one normative principle. Rising up to meet this challenge, Rainer Forst, a leading member of the Frankfurt School's newest generation of philosophers, conceives an "autonomous" construction of justice, founded on what he calls the basic moral right to justification. Forst begins by identifying this right from the perspective of moral philosophy, then, through an innovative, detailed critical analysis, he ties together the central components of social and political justice-freedom, democracy, equality, and toleration-and joins them to this right. The resulting theory treats "justificatory power" as the central question of justice, and by adopting this approach, Forst argues, we can discursively work out, or "construct," principles of justice, especially with respect to transnational justice and human rights issues. As he builds his theory, Forst engages with the work of Anglo-American philosophers, such as John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, and Amartya Sen, and continental thinkers, such as Jürgen Habermas (under whom Forst studied), Nancy Fraser, and Axel Honneth. Straddling multiple subjects, from politics and law to social protest and philosophical conceptions of practical reason, Forst brilliantly gathers contesting claims around a single, elastic theory of justice.