 A common approach to reasons in normative ethics is to take the idea of a reason as primitive. A reason to \(\Phi\) is a consideration that counts in favor of \(\Phi\)-ing (Scanlon 1998, 17). But the idea of a reason in public justification theory is more specific. We do not need an ontology of reasons, but we must explain when a reason justifies a proposal. Gaus defends a conception of reasons on epistemic grounds in Justificatory Liberalism. One has a justificatory reason when openly justified. A reason is openly justified when it is “stable in the face of acute and sustained criticism by others and of new information” (Gaus 1996, 31).