Concluding Review

Abstract

By way of conclusion, let me review the different stages of the argument presented in the last five chapters. In Chapter 1 I laid out what I take to be a liberal conception of political justification in terms of the inclusiveness of the constituency of justification, and the permanence of deep diversity in that constituency. Once we understand justificatory reasons as practical reasons, as I claimed that we must, then questions about the motivational adequacy of these reasons arise. If justificatory reasons are supposed to be action-guiding then we have to ask two questions about them. (1) Is action for these reasons possible? The answer to this question is no if such action would require that members of the constituency of justification have contradictory beliefs or inconsistent motives. (2) How demanding are these justificatory reasons? The demandingness of a set of reasons is a function not of the formal possibility of action guided by them, but rather of the degree of uniformity along various dimensions required across a constituency of persons in order for them all to have the motivational commitment to act for these reasons