The Culture of Justification and Public Reason: Comments on the Motion of Members of the Polish Parliament to the Constitutional Tribunal

Prof. dr hab. Marek Smolak

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how the culture of justification and the public reason can serve as legitimacy device in legal justifications. The idea of the culture of justification, proposed by David Dyzenhaus, makes an interesting contribution to the discussion on how to make headway with the problem of determining the limits of public authority. Applying Ron den Otter’ test of a reasonable sceptic, the author argues that the culture of justification becomes a good political and moral tool for limiting the exercise of public authority, if such a culture is understood and explained in light of the idea of public reason.

Keywords: culture of authority, culture of justification, public reason, test of a reasonable sceptic

Language: English

Received: 21.02.2019
Accepted: 04.05.2019

Published: Number 2(20)/2019, pp. 29-38.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.2.29

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