ABSTRACT
This chapter considers several questions about “personal pacifism,” questions whose importance becomes clearest once we consider the objection that charges personal pacifism with not being a morally significant stance. It also considers the objection and the basic charge that is personal pacifism involves a decision to renounce violence or war-participation without endorsing a general moral obligation for others to do likewise. Personal pacifism, while necessarily narrow in scope in terms of who is to refrain from violence, admits of varying degrees of scope with respect to what is prohibited. The chapter focuses mainly on versions of personal pacifism that extend beyond mere refusal to fight in war to encompass a more general refusal to engage in unambiguously violent acts, and are not paired with a commitment to universal pacifism at any level of scope.
