Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account
I defend a modified rights-based unjust threat account for morally justified killing in self-defense. Rights-based moral justifications for killing in self-defense presume that human beings have a right to defend themselves from unjust threats. An unjust threat account of self-defense says that this...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Philosophy Documentation Center
2022
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90522 |
| _version_ | 1848765391612936192 |
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| author | Ford, Shannon Brandt |
| author_facet | Ford, Shannon Brandt |
| author_sort | Ford, Shannon Brandt |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | I defend a modified rights-based unjust threat account for morally justified killing in self-defense. Rights-based moral justifications for killing in self-defense presume that human beings have a right to defend themselves from unjust threats. An unjust threat account of self-defense says that this right is derived from an agent’s moral obligation to not pose a deadly threat to the defender. The failure to keep this moral obligation creates the moral asymmetry necessary to justify a defender killing the unjust threat in self-defense. I argue that the other rights-based approaches explored here are unfair to the defender because they require her to prove moral fault in the threat. But then I suggest that the unjust threat account should be modified so that where the threat is non-culpable or only partially culpable, the defender should seek to share the cost and risk with the threat in order for both parties to survive. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:30Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-90522 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:34:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Philosophy Documentation Center |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-905222025-04-19T07:50:01Z Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account Ford, Shannon Brandt I defend a modified rights-based unjust threat account for morally justified killing in self-defense. Rights-based moral justifications for killing in self-defense presume that human beings have a right to defend themselves from unjust threats. An unjust threat account of self-defense says that this right is derived from an agent’s moral obligation to not pose a deadly threat to the defender. The failure to keep this moral obligation creates the moral asymmetry necessary to justify a defender killing the unjust threat in self-defense. I argue that the other rights-based approaches explored here are unfair to the defender because they require her to prove moral fault in the threat. But then I suggest that the unjust threat account should be modified so that where the threat is non-culpable or only partially culpable, the defender should seek to share the cost and risk with the threat in order for both parties to survive. 2022 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90522 10.5840/ijap2023210172 Philosophy Documentation Center restricted restricted |
| spellingShingle | Ford, Shannon Brandt Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account |
| title | Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account |
| title_full | Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account |
| title_fullStr | Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account |
| title_short | Rights-Based Justifications for Self-Defense: Defending a Modified Unjust Threat Account |
| title_sort | rights-based justifications for self-defense: defending a modified unjust threat account |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/90522 |