different between justifiability vs justifiable

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: j?s't?f??b??l?t?, IPA^(key): /?d???st?fa???b?l?t?/

Noun

justifiability (countable and uncountable, plural justifiabilities)

1. The property of being justifiable.
   • 1795 January 27th, William Woodfall et al., The Parliamentary Regi?ter; or, An Impartial Report of the Debates that occur in the Two Hou?es of Parliament, in the Cour?e of the Fifth Se??ion of the Seventeenth Parliament of Great Britain, called to meet at We?tmin?ter, on Tue?day the 30th of December 1794, volume I (London: published by T. Chapman, number 151, Fleet-Street; 1795), page 443

     War, with re?pect to its ju?tifiability, like many other matters, was that on which men would decide by their moral and religious views of the ?ubject.

   • 2008 October 14, Ernest Sosa, “Boghossian’s Fear of Knowledge” (pages 399–407) in Philosophical Studies CXLI:iii (December 2008), page 403

     If (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.

Derived terms

English

Etymology

From Middle French justifiable

Adjective

justifiable (comparative more justifiable, superlative most justifiable)

1. That can be justified.
   • 1917, Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and General Theory, Part II.

     It was at all times clear that, from the point of view of the idea it conveys to us, every motion must be considered only as a relative motion. Returning to the illustration we have frequently used of the embankment and the railway carriage, we can express the fact of the motion here taking place in the following two forms, both of which are equally justifiable:

     (a) The carriage is in motion relative to the embankment,

     (b) The embankment is in motion relative to the carriage.

     In (a) the embankment, in (b) the carriage, serves as the body of reference in our statement of the motion taking place. —

Antonyms

• unjustifiable

Related terms

• justifiability
• justifiably
• justify

Derived terms

Translations

French

Adjective

justifiable (plural justifiables)

1. justifiable

Related terms

• justifier
• justification
• justifiablement

Further reading

• “justifiable” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).