5. The Structure of Substantive Justification

The chapter delves into the structure of substantive justification, exploring how principles like 'do no harm' and 'leave no one behind' operate in building resilient social institutions. It distinguishes between formal and substantive political principles, highlighting the normative force of the latter. The text also examines the role of substantive justification in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, where timely decisions and trade-offs were inevitable. Additionally, it discusses the ontological structure of public-interest problems and how they determine the scope and content of substantive principles. The chapter concludes by arguing that substantive political principles are protagorean objective when they are fit to serve as a remedy for a public interest problem about which there exists thick stakeholder consensus.