title: The nature and limits of violence.
abstract: I take advantage of a point made by H. J. Gert, in "Rights and Rights Violators: A New Approach to the Nature of Rights" (The Journal of Philosophy 1990; 87 (12): 688-694) to provide the following definition of violence. "Violence is an intentional or knowing attempt by a moral agent to directly cause harm, i.e., death, pain, disability, loss of freedom or pleasure, to someone who is protected by morality without the consent of that person." I show how this definition applies to violence in hospitals and discuss some of the ethical problems created by violent patients.
authors.affiliation: Study of Ethics and Human Values, Dartmouth College, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gert
mesh_terms: D000488:Allied Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D014754:Violence