  The first two specifications, however, can do justice to the thought that respect for persons is respect for their distinctive capacity to respond to the reasons that apply to them. It is much less clear that the third specification can do so. Since irrational and even silly conceptions of the good can be the product of efforts to find meaning or value in life, they are entitled to full respect under it. However, since these conceptions of the good are not the product of the exercise of rational capacities—except in the very minimal sense in which any belief is the product of such capacities—the third specification fits uncomfortably with the thought that respect for persons is respect for their rational capacity to respond to reasons. Yet this minimal specification of the standards of reasonableness—precisely because it is so undemanding—can support a principle of state neutrality with wide scope.