Necessity and Liability: On an Honour-Based Justification for Defensive Harming

Citation

Bowen J (2016) Necessity and Liability: On an Honour-Based Justification for Defensive Harming. Journal of Practical Ethics, 4 (2), pp. 79-93. http://www.jpe.ox.ac.uk/papers/necessity-and-liability-on-an-honour-based-justification-for-defensive-harming/

Abstract
This paper considers whether victims can justify what appears to be unnecessary defensive harming by reference to an honour-based justification. I argue that such an account faces serious problems: the honour-based justification cannot permit, first,defensiveharming, and second,substantialunnecessary harming. Finally, I suggest that, if the purpose of the honour based justification is expressive, an argument must be given to demonstrate why harming threateners, as opposed to opting for a non-harmful alternative, is the most effective means of affirming one’s honour. Along the way, I also suggest why I think thatinternalismabout the constraints on defensive harming (the view that the satisfaction of the necessity constraint is a necessity condition of a threatener’s liability) is correct. Most importantly, externalism implies that threateners can be liable to suffer gratuitous harm. I take this to be an unattractive consequence of the view.

Journal
Journal of Practical Ethics: Volume 4, Issue 2