The Right to Explanation*

This paper argues for a right to explanation.The argument is structured according to an interest-based account of rights, where rights are constraints on the discretion of decision-makers to act that are necessary to protect a weighty, widespread interest against standing threats, and come at a tolerable cost.The right to explanation is grounded in the interest in so-called informed self-advocacy, or the ability to represent one's interests and values to decision-makers and to conform one's behavior to a set of rules.Institutional opacity, both in the form of algorithmic decision-making and complex institutional rules, is argued to threaten the interest in informed selfadvocacy.Explanations are necessary means to protect this interest, and their provision comes at a tolerable cost.Finally, a new content of the right to explanation is proposed, in the form of rule-based explanations and population-level causal explanations provided by free experts.