PHL370H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Sleepwalking
Document Summary
Justification: this was a morally acceptable thing to do therefore you are not held accountable. Excuse: what you did was not morally acceptable but you are still off the hook for other circumstances; such as mental illness. If you"re being attacked then your back is up against the wall and your life is on the line. So you are not in the right kind of state of mind to be held accountable for what you do; its like a temporary state of mind/insanity. The level of harm you"re committing cannot be disproportionate to the harm given to you. For example, you cant be shoot someone for poking you with a pencil. If self-defence is an excuse then it is not so clear why you should not be off the hook because there is no reason why you should not be off the hook.