(Return to main path)

I want to add something, and I think it is another part of avoiding arbitrariness.

It seems to me that when we talk about justice we are agreeing to play by certain rules. And one of the things we are agreeing to do is to offer reasons for our various judgments.

If someone says 'merit is relevant,' or 'race is relevant,' or 'gender is relevant' to this or that decision, she is agreeing that she can't just say 'because I like it  that way.'

To make claims about justice is to make a commitment to a rational process that includes a commitment to give reasons for our judgments, including reasons for saying that merit or race or gender is relevant.

This is very important. Consider the case of race, for example. If justice implies this commitment to providing reasons for judgments, then a racist cannot simply say that blacks and whites should be treated differently "because I like it that way." She must offer reasons. And in many cases, when these reasons are offered, they can be tested by scientific methods.

And that too is a way of getting away from arbitrary decisions.