Read more
This volume analyzes Rainer Forst's theory of the right to justification from legal-philosophical and constitutional-theoretical perspectives. The contributions address issues such as the philosophical foundations of justification and constitutionalism, the justification of human rights, the requirements of social justice, and important elements of constitutional law. Forst responds to the contributions in a concluding chapter.
List of contents
- Introduction
- By Ester Herlin-Karnell and Matthias Klatt
- Part One
- The Right to Justification
- 1. The Innate Right of Humanity and the Right to Justification
- By Arthur Ripstein
- 2. Engaging with Forst's "Right to Justification": Kantian Analogies and the Problem of Subjectivity
- By Claudio Corradetti
- 3. Human Rights, Interests, and Variation
- By Andrea Sangiovanni
- 4. Distributions, Relations, and Justifications: Mixing Flavors of Egalitarianism
- By Christian Hiebaum
- 5. Practical Justice
- By Bernhard Schlink
- 6. Noumenal Power, Reasons, and Justification: A Critique of Forst
- By Enzo Rossi and Sameer Bajaj
- 7. The Limits of Justification: Critique Disclosure, and Reflexivity
- By Lois McNay
- Part Two
- Constitutional Theory
- 8. Proportionality and Justification
- By Matthias Klatt
- 9. Republicanising Rights? Proportionality, Justification, and Non-domination
- By Eoin Daly
- 10. Constitutionalism and Justice
- By Alon Harel
- 11. Democracy as Good in Itself: Three Kinds of Noninstrumental Justification
- By Christian F. Rostbøll
- 12. The Concept of Non-domination and the Right to Justification in EU Security-Related Texts
- By Ester Herlin-Karnell
- Part Three
- Responses
- 13. The Constitution of Justification: Replies and Comments
- By Rainer Forst
About the author
Ester Herlin-Karnell is Professor and University Research Chair of EU Constitutional Law and Justice at VU University of Amsterdam
Matthias Klatt holds the Chair of Jurisprudence at the University of Graz
Héctor A. Morales Zðñiga is a University Assistant the University of Graz
Summary
Constitutionalism Justified analyzes leading Frankfurt School theorist Rainer Forst's theory of a basic right to justification, unique in combining insights from philosophy, constitutionalism, and legal theory. Drawing upon Kant's critical philosophy and Habermas's discourse theory, he has developed fresh perspectives on core topics like the concept of justice, the relation between modernity and emancipation, and human rights. The contributors to this volume explore Forst's work from three different perspectives: philosophy, legal philosophy, and constitutional theory.
The first part of this volume addresses the philosophical argument of the basic right to justification, including the influence of Kantian thought on this right, the deontological versus teleological fundamentals, the tension between moral pluralism and universalism, and the relation of the right to justification with social and distributive justice. The second part covers how the right to justification is embedded in constitutional and legal frameworks. It explores the implications that Forst's right to justification has for conceptualizing constitutional democracy and its foundations, and how the moral right to justification may translate into particular practices of justification that are constrained by a legal framework. This includes discussion of the value of constitutionalism in general, of the relation between the formal structure of democracy and substantive justice, of the inclusion of outsiders to the constitutional setting, and of proportionality analysis and judicial review as forms of justification. The book concludes with Rainer Forst's reply to his interlocutors, making the book a valuable source for future research.
