Abstract

In a stage-wise view of the process of constructing and realizing a system of freedoms and rights, one central problem is the establishment of robust bases of justification towards a greater degree of acceptability of the system’s theoretical framework. By drawing insights from various theories of rights as well as from the works of Rawls, Sen, and Habermas, two characterizations of the central problem of justification are presented. The first characterization is in terms of adopting a fundamental universal principle or set of principles in establishing the bases of justification. The second and alternative characterization invokes the notion of the method as justification and is in terms of establishing the appropriate procedures and conditions under which a reasonable system of freedoms and rights could be constructed and justified. It is argued that this alternative characterization is more plausible because it evades the tension between the pluralistic character of human reality and the narrow universalizing character of fundamental principles in the first characterization. Following this argument, this paper draws from the constructivist approach of Rawls and the discourse theory of Habermas and presents a conceptual sketch of the constructive and integrative approach towards establishing robust bases of justification for a system of freedoms and rights.