On the concept of a justification narrative

Understanding man as a rational being, as an animal rationale, means seeing him as a justifying being. Reason is the ability to orient oneself in the world on the basis of justifying reasons. For “ratio, raison, reason means”, as Tugend hat emphasizes, “just as much ‘reason’ as ‘rationality’. The faculty of reason is the ability to speak and answer for one’s opinions and actions; Latin rationem reddere, Greek logon didonai.” This ability to speak and answer is a social practice of culturally and historically situated beings who, on the one hand, are free to choose and examine their reasons, but on the other hand are bound by which reasons are available to them and which are considered good or justifying. The space of reasons is a space of justifications that legitimize not only individual actions but also complex orders of action, i.e. social relations and political institutions.