Abstract
This article explores whether or not animal activists who engage in violence might legitimately be labelled “terrorists.” To this end, I examine common assumptions concerning the use of pre-emptive counter-violence in order to defend the comparatively defenceless. Through the use of casuistry, this essay compares specific hypothetical instances of killing comparatively defenceless individuals, beginning with scenarios that offer a clear general consensus, moving to more controversial cases. This indicates that contemporary violence on behalf of animal liberation, often assumed to be rash and radical, is actually quite restrained. The intent of this paper is not to make claims as to how liberationists ought to behave, but rather to highlight egregious inconsistencies in our attitudes toward violence on behalf of those who are comparatively defenceless.
Highlights
RÉSUMÉ : Arguments in this essay, above all else, are rooted in consistency, and my task is to assess what consistency requires if we hold a particular point of view concerning the use of violence on behalf of the defenceless
I begin by calling attention to what appears to be a broadly held moral outlook, with regard to the use of violence on behalf of comparatively defenceless human beings
I apply this common moral outlook to a second scenario that is similar in morally relevant ways, allowing consistency to lead the way
Summary
RÉSUMÉ : Arguments in this essay, above all else, are rooted in consistency, and my task is to assess what consistency requires if we hold a particular point of view concerning the use of violence on behalf of the defenceless. Responses to the gunman/playground scenario indicate two sufficient conditions justifying pre-emptive counter-violence (including homicide): when an apparent aggressor poses a direct, immediate threat to the lives of the comparatively defenceless without doing so in self-preservation, or when killing an aggressor appears to be the only way to save comparatively defenceless lives.
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