The John Rawls principle of sufficient reason inspires this blogger

Susan Neiman’s Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grownup Idealists (Harcourt 2008) emphasizes the principle of sufficient reason. It is the idea that whatever happens can be explained (at 131), that everything happens for a reason (at 138). That principle is the basis for the structure of reasoning itself.

When I blog, I assume there is an explanation for something done experienced by a department, or some set of benchmark metrics, or some change in the legal industry. The explanation may be complicated; it may be subtle and multifarious; it may well be beyond my ken. But it is there as I believe in the principle of sufficient reason.

Hand in hand with the principle of sufficient reason goes Occam’s Razor: the simplest explanation is likely to be the best one. Accordingly, I try to give an explanation for law department occurrences, and the simpler the explanation, the better.