The Right to Justification: Elements of a Constructivist Theory of Justice
Contemporary philosophical pluralism recognizes the inevitability and
legitimacy of multiple ethical perspectives and values, making it difficult to
isolate the higher-order principles on which to base a theory of justice. Rising
up to meet this challenge, Rainer Forst, a leading member of the Frankfurt
School's newest generation of philosophers, conceives of 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 the right to
justification. 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 critical
theorists such as Jürgen Habermas, 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.
