The Ethics of Self-Defense
Christian Coons and Michael Weber
Abstract
Broadly speaking, self-defense is action taken to prevent or reduce harm to oneself (or one’s property) threatened by another. The chapters collected in this volume are original contributions by leading philosophical and legal scholars that address questions concerning the ethics of self-defense, most centrally when and to what extent the use of defensive force, especially lethal force, can be justified. Scholarly interest in this topic reflects public concern stemming from controversial cases of the use of force by police and military force exercised in the name of defending against transnati ... More
Broadly speaking, self-defense is action taken to prevent or reduce harm to oneself (or one’s property) threatened by another. The chapters collected in this volume are original contributions by leading philosophical and legal scholars that address questions concerning the ethics of self-defense, most centrally when and to what extent the use of defensive force, especially lethal force, can be justified. Scholarly interest in this topic reflects public concern stemming from controversial cases of the use of force by police and military force exercised in the name of defending against transnational terrorism. In the chapters, special attention is paid to determining when a threat is liable to defensive harm, though doubts about this emphasis are also raised. The legitimacy of so-called stand-your-ground policies and laws is also addressed. The contributions to this volume aspire to provide a general framework for evaluating the use of defensive force in cases that pose diverse ethical challenges.
Keywords:
self-defense,
liability,
war and national defense,
culpability,
moral responsibility,
proportionality,
stand your ground
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190206086 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190206086.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Christian Coons, editor
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Bowling Green State University
Michael Weber, editor
Associate Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Philosophy, Bowling Green State University
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