Assassination
The justification of political violence is a difficult but hardly avoidable question for political philosophy. Recent assassinations and attempted assassinations have raised this issue in the U.S. political context. Here are a few thoughts on assassination as a particular form of political violence. It seems to me to have four logically possible (not to say necessarily valid) justifications: Elimination . Assassination may be conceived for the purpose of eliminating an individual who poses a distinct, particular, and grave threat to innocent people. For example, if you could kill Adolf Hitler and you knew that doing so would prevent millions of people from being killed, it would seem justified. It is hard to imagine a scenario in which elimination is the sole justification. If Hitler had already killed millions, an assassin might prevent him killing millions more, but surely retribution for those already killed would be part of the justification along with prevention o...
