The Vindication of Good Over Evil: “Futile” Self-Defense

Abstract

I defend the intuition that an innocent victim (IV) is permitted to use defensive force against a wrongful aggressor (WA) even when both parties know the harm inflicted is futile in that it will not prevent aggression in either the present or the future. To support this intuitive judgment, I maintain that the infliction of harm upon WA by IV produces an impersonal good --- a valuable objective that is not good for IV or indeed for anyone. I describe the advantages of employing impersonal goods to support the intuition that IV is permitted to harm WA even though the effort is futile.