Ethics, volume 125, issue 1, pages 114-136
Killing Minimally Responsible Threats
Saba Bazargan
Publication type: Journal Article
Publication date: 2014-09-18
DOI:
10.1086/677023
Philosophy
Abstract
Minimal responsibility threateners (MRTs) are epistemically justified but mistaken in thinking that imposing a nonnegligible risk on others is permissible. On standard accounts, an MRT forfeits her right not to be defensively killed. I propose an alternative account: an MRT is liable only to the degree of harm equivalent to what she risks causing multiplied by her degree of responsibility. Harm imposed on the MRT above that amount is justified as a lesser evil, relative to allowing the MRT to kill her victim. This hybrid account, which generalizes to those are who are more than minimally responsible, has considerable advantages.
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