RE: Favorite Philosophers?
December 8, 2017 at 1:35 pm
(This post was last modified: December 8, 2017 at 1:41 pm by Edwardo Piet.)
(December 8, 2017 at 1:31 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote:(December 8, 2017 at 1:27 pm)Hammy Wrote: I believe that self-defense that uses violence is immoral if you cause more suffering to the person who attacked you than the person who attacked you would have caused had you not defended yourself.
Let me play devil's advocate then. A woman is attacked by a rapist (who only intended to rape her--not kill her). She defends herself by shooting him in the head with a 38 special. Justified?
Yes I do think that is morally justified.
Just not legally.
Unless the family and friends of the rapist would suffer more psychologically from the death of the rapist, who no one can know for sure was going to rape her or not, than the woman would have suffered if she had been raped. But I doubt it. I'm sure rape would be a deeper psychological suffering than grief. Especially considering some family and friends would probably feel less grief over the death of a loved one who attacked and tried to rape someone than they would for a loved one who wasn't that awful.
So I'm going to say: Yes.
You say 'only intended to rape her' but I think in many cases rape is worse than murder. Although it certainly depends. I understand that you say that probably because legally murder is treated as more severe. But I don't think it is.
I think there are a lot of experiences worse than death.... which isn't even an experience. And I think the worst part about death is the dying and the people who would miss you. And the pain that comes from death can often be less painful than rape. That certainly depends. But to die instantly from a gunshot I certainly don't think is as bad as rape. I'd much rather be shot in the head than raped. At least provided that I died instantly. If I survived and suffered severe pain in my head and brain damage for many years, maybe that would be worse than rape, but I'm not sure.