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Moral anomalies?

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Iatan Petru

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2 hours ago, Nicky said:

If you want to spend the next two decades in prison, sure. You can shoot anybody, for anything. But, otherwise, no, you can't. Not in any western country I know of.

We're talking whether or not it is morally justified. If you hypothethically knew you had ONLY the following two options : shooting your aggressor or letting him punch you, which action is moral (and would be legal under a proper Government) :

-an act of self defense
-letting that person violate your rights
I think the answer is obvious, from an Objectivist perspective at least

Edited by Iatan Petru
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You may stop the initiation of force, but as far as what is a just response should be proportional. Justice entails, usually, both retribution and fair compensation for damage. So killing someone for stealing a pen from you is far from proportional. Perhaps your concern in the OP is that justified intervention means being allowed to respond to any degree you wish.

Most Objectivist perspectives I've seen use some principle of proportionality.

Edited by Eiuol
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  • 2 months later...

I'm coming into this late, but...

Moral action doesn't require legal permission, and in most cases one's legal jeopardy would depend more on the morality of one's peers than the letter of the law when put on trial.  So what might appear to be morally anomalous in a legal context is in fact what a proper government relies on to prove the law (or to check the premise).

I believe it's in the rational self-interest of a moral witness to intervene, even when not immediately effected by the immoral action of another, because immoral behavior of the kind described undermines the security of individual rights upon which one depends.  Appropriate intervention depends on the circumstance and may amount to simply making ones presence and disapproval known, however I recognize there's no compulsion to act because it remains a mater of individual choice (liberty).

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