Justifiability

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: jÅ­s'tÄ­fÄ«É™bĭʹlÄ­tÄ­, IPA: /ËŒdÍ¡Ê’ÊŒstɪfaɪəˈbɪlɪtɪ/

Origin

First attested in 1795; formed as justifiable + -ity; compare -ability.

Full definition of justifiability

Noun

1. The property of being justifiable.
• 1795 January 27th, William Woodfall et al., The Parliamentary RegiÅ¿ter; or, An Impartial Report of the Debates that occur in the Two HouÅ¿es of Parliament, in the CourÅ¿e of the Fifth SeÅ¿Å¿ion of the Seventeenth Parliament of Great Britain, called to meet at WeÅ¿tminÅ¿ter, on TueÅ¿day the 30th of December 1794, volume I (London: published by T. Chapman, number 151, Fleet-Street; 1795), page 443War, with reÅ¿pect to its juÅ¿tifiability, like many other matters, was that on which men would decide by their moral and religious views of the Å¿ubject.
• 2008 October 14, Ernest Sosa, “” (pages 399–407) in CXLI:iii (December 2008), page 403If (a) absolute epistemic facts could not exist without being justifiable (the justifiability constraint), and if (b) one would not be justified in upholding one’s own epistemic system when faced with an actually advocated genuine alternative, then, in my view, (c) we are not much better off if such advocates are possible but just happen not to be actual.