The second justification for the doctrine of public reason is the Civic Friendship Argument. On this view, we can justify the doctrine by appeal to its role in enabling citizens jointly to maintain just institutions, and thereby realise a form of civic friendship. Public reason is central to this task since the joint pursuit of justice is possible only if citizens “affirm the same political conception of justice” and so “share one very basic political end” (Rawls 1996: 202).