Description
Book SynopsisWhen is it morally permissible to engage in self-defense or the defense of others? Jonathan Quong defends a variety of novel ideas in this book about the morality of defensive force, providing an original philosophical account of the central moral principles that should regulate its use. We cannot understand the morality of defensive force, he reasons, until we ask and answer deeper questions about how the use of defensive force fits with a more general account of justice and moral rights. In developing this stance, Quong presents new views on liability, proportionality, and necessity. He argues that self-defense can sometimes be justified on the basis of an agent-relative prerogative to give greater weight to one''s own life and interests, contrary to the dominant view in the literature. Additionally Quong develops a novel conception of individual rights against harm. Unlike some, who believe that our rights against harm are fact-relative, he argues that our rights against being harmed by others must, in certain respects, be sensitive to the evidence that others can reasonably be expected to possess. The book concludes with Quong''s extended defense of the means principle, a principle that prohibits harmfully using other persons'' bodies or other rightful property unless those persons are duty bound to permit this use or have otherwise waived their claims against such use.
Trade ReviewQuong defends a powerful account of the grounds and conditions under which an agent may justifiably inflict serious harm on another person. * Cecile Fabre, Criminal Law and Philosophy *
The Morality of Defensive Force offers a rich and challenging account of the ethics of self-defence from one of the world's leading theorists of defensive harm. Quong's lively, lucid and imaginative prose is a joy to read ... this book is surely essential reading for anyone working on the ethics of harming and related topics. * Helen Frowe, Stockholm University *
Quong's brilliant book is distinguished by its great originality and creativity ... Quong's careful and rigorous arguments are important contributions not just to our understanding of the morality of defense but also to a wide range of general issues in moral philosophy. * Jeff McMahan, Sekyra and White's Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford *
Jonathan Quong is one of the very best moral and political philosophers working in the world today. His distinctive and carefully developed work on self-defence has already had a profound impact on the field. His book, which draws together and develops this work, is an outstanding achievement that will have lasting significance in debates about some of the most important philosophical and practical questions that we face. * Victor Tadros, Warwick University *
Among its many virtues, The Morality of Defensive Force offers a sustained and powerful critique of the moral responsibility account. * Michael Otsuka, Criminal Law and Philosophy *
The Morality of Defensive Force is packed with forceful, novel arguments. It will no doubt become a cornerstone of work on the justifications and limits of defensive harm. It strikes a great balance between being accessible to those who want to pick it up for a particular topic—for example, those interested only in the necessity condition, the bearing of evidence on rights, or the means principle—and at the same time being a rewarding, well-integrated read. * Joseph Bowen, Ethics *
Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Liability 3: Agent-Relative Prerogatives 4: Proportionality 5: Necessity 6: Rights and Evidence 7: The Means Principle
