At 03:14 PM 3/5/01 -0800 Christopher Gwyn wrote:
>"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
>> Michael Harney argued that killing in self-defence was o.k. Since my
>> first example had the terroirst gratuitously executing a prisoner, I
>> revised it to make the terrorist killing in self-defence. IMHO, the
>> terrorist is still unjustified in killing someone seeking to do good, even
>> in self-defence.
> So the legitimacy of the killing depends on whether someone believes
>that what you are doing is motivated by 'seeking good'? That leaves
>the scenario open for someone to think it is legitimate for the
>'Defender of the People' to kill the 'Oppressor of the
>People'....which is not a result that either of us want.
Actually, it has nothing to do with whatever he or she believes, and
everything to do with whether or not his or her actions are, in fact, *good.*
Yes, "good" is a very tricky concept to define, but difficulty of
definition does not mean that it does not exist.
JDG
__________________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - ICQ #3527685
"The point of living in a Republic after all, is that we do not live by
majority rule. We live by laws and a variety of isntitutions designed
to check each other." -Andrew Sullivan 01/29/01
