Philosophy of Terrorism

Etymology

Definition

• Neither an academic nor an international legal consensus regarding the definition of the term terrorism.

1. In 1994, the United Nations Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism defines terrorism as

 "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes.”

Definition ( Cont. )

2. Now the term “terrorism” is commonly used to describe terrorist acts committed by non-state or subnational entities against a state.”

-(Williamson 2009)

The Sectoral Approach

• An approach to ward off terrorism.

• In order to have an “effective prevention and to punish the practice of terrorism, the international community has adopted a 'sectoral' approach that aims at identifying offences seen as belonging to terrorists and working out treaties in order to deal with specific categories thereof.

• The treaties that follow this approach focus on the wrongful nature of terrorist activities rather than on their intent.

- (Gioia, 2006).

Statistical Data

9/11 Attack

Philosophical approach in favor of terrorism

One could justify terrorism on this basis that:

• Victims may be non-combatants but not innocent of the wrongs terrorists accuse them of.

• The attack on them are justified by consequences on balance.

• In 1981, Nielsen, a philosopher justifies terrorism in two possible ways:

1. when they are politically effective weapons in the revolutionary struggle

(Continued)

2. the use of violence rather than no violence at all or violence of some other type, there will be less injustice, suffering and degradation in the world than would otherwise have been the case

-(Nielsen, 1981).-

The American people pay taxes to their government and voted for their president.

Their government makes weapons and provides them to Israel, which they use to kill Palestinian Muslims. Given that the American Congress is a committee that

represents the people, the fact that it agrees with the actions of American

government proves that America in its entirety is resp. for the atrocities that it is

committing against Muslims.

(Usama bin Laden, 2005)

Philosophical approach against terrorism

• “Killing of one human being equals killing of entire humanity.”

-(The Qur’an)

• “If two people have faith that the other needed to be killed, is either of them really more justified than the other?” 

-(Leuwenburg, 2005)

• Innocent people are victimized and thereby treated as objects because they are humans- only to serve as an example .

(Cont.)• Even if for higher good, they always have the

alternative of going after government officials responsible for the wrongs they object to, instead of attacking innocent persons.

-(Fotion, 1981)

• “If we refuse to resort to terrorism in order not to target innocent persons, and thus fail to prevent some other persons from perpetrating atrocities, it is only the perpetrators who will be morally responsible for those atrocities. Therefore we must refuse.”

-(Bauhn, 1989).

(Cont.)

• “Even the definition implies that it is terrorist’s intention to exploit violence and fear for a political objective.”

-(Schwenkenbecher, 2012)

Conclusion

-(Noam Chomsky, 2002)

Terrorism is a complex problem with many diverse causes. Consequently no single effective method to counter it exists. To combat terrorism, one must first understand the underlying motivations for each particular group's actions. Then a strategy needs to be developed.

References• Chomsky, N. (2002). Power and Terror: Noam

Chomsky in Our Times (Documentary).

• Fotion, N. (1981). The Burdens of Terrorism. New York. Macmillan

• Gioia, A. (2006). International Cooperation in

Counter-terrorism: The United Nations And Regional

Organizations in the Fight Against Terrorism. Ashgate.

• Neilson. (1981). Violence and Terrorism: Its Uses and Abuses. New York. Macmillan

• Williamson, M. (2009). Terrorism, war and.

Reference

international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. Ashgate Publishing

• Schwenkenbecher, A. (2012) Terrorism: A Philosophical Enquiry. Palgrave Macmillan. London, UK.

• United Nations Declaration. (1994). Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism, UN Doc.

• Williamson, M. (2009). Terrorism, war and international law: the legality of the use of force against Afghanistan in 2001. Ashgate Publishing

Thank You