Self-Defense Against Conditional Threats

EDUARDO RIVERA LÓPEZ

Zurich

Workshop; The Ethics of Defending Yourself and What Is Yours Under Incomplete Information; 2023

Center for Ethics, University of Zurich

The aim of this paper is twofold. First, we will argue that killing a Conditional Threat involves an unnecessary act of defense. We will defend this thesis by showing that the case involving the Conditional Threat is fundamentally similar to a case involving an Unconditional Threat in which the victim can flee to safety although this involves incurring a minor cost.Second, we will analyze the thresholds of maximal harm that victims are potentially required to endure related to the conditions of necessity and of proportionality. In this respect, we will argue that the maximal amount of harm a victim is required to endure for not harming her aggressor sanctioned by the condition of necessity is, all else being equal, lower than the maximal amount of harm a victim must endure for not harming her aggressor sanctioned by the condition of proportionality.