Title

Killing Minimally Responsible Threats

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Abstract

Minimal responsibility threateners (MRTs) are epistemically justified but mistaken in thinking that imposing a non-negligible 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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