The Liability of Justified Attackers
McMahan argues that justification defeats liability to defensive attack (which would have far-reaching consequences for the ethics of war, in particular for the thesis of the moral equality of combatants). In response, I argue, first, that McMahans attempt to burden the contrary claim with counter-...
| Published in: | Ethical theory and moral practice |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science + Business Media B. V
[2016]
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| In: |
Ethical theory and moral practice
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| IxTheo Classification: | NCD Political ethics VA Philosophy ZC Politics in general |
| Further subjects: | B
Justified attackers
B Self-defense B Liability B Compensation B War B Justification B Jeff McMahan B Permissibility |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | McMahan argues that justification defeats liability to defensive attack (which would have far-reaching consequences for the ethics of war, in particular for the thesis of the moral equality of combatants). In response, I argue, first, that McMahans attempt to burden the contrary claim with counter-intuitive implications fails; second, that McMahans own position implies that the innocent civilians do not have a right of self-defense against justified attackers, which neither coheres with his description of the case (the justified bombers infringe the rights of the civilians) nor with his views about rights forfeiture, is unsupported by independent argument, and, in any case, extremely implausible and counter-intuitive; and third, that his interpretation of the insulin case confuses the normative relations between an agents justification and non-liability (or lack thereof) on the one hand and permissible or impermissible interference with the agents act on the other. Similar confusions, fourth, affect his discussion of liability to compensation. |
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| ISSN: | 1572-8447 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Ethical theory and moral practice
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10677-016-9712-y |