ONLINE FIRST
published on April 12, 2018
Charles K. Fink
https://doi.org/10.5840/acorn20184116
Nonviolence and Tolstoy¡¯s Hard Question
Pacifists are often put on the defensive with cases¡ªreal or imagined¡ªin which innocent people are threatened by violent criminals. Is it always wrong to respond to violence with violence, even in defense of the innocent? This is the ¡°hard¡± question addressed in this article. I argue that it is at least permissible to maintain one¡¯s commitment to nonviolence in such cases. This may not seem like a bold conclusion, yet pacifists are often ridiculed¡ªsometimes as cowards, sometimes as selfish moral purists¡ªfor their refusal to use violence in defense of others. In this article, I try to show that such scorn is unjustified.