Liberty in the Age of Terror A Defence of Civil Liberties and Enlightenment Values

by Grayling, A. C.

• ISBN13: 9781408803073
• ISBN10: 1408803070
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-05-10
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

"The means of defence against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home." James MadisonOur societies, says Anthony Grayling, are under attack not only from the threat of terrorism, but also from our governments' attempts to fight that threat by reducing freedom in our own societies - think the 42-day detention controversy, CCTV surveillance, increasing invasion of privacy, ID Cards, not to mention Abu Ghraib, rendition, Guantanamo…As Grayling says: 'There should be a special place for political irony in the catalogues of human folly. Starting a war 'to promote freedom and democracy' could in certain though rare circumstances be a justified act; but in the case of the Second Gulf War that began in 2003, which involved reacting to criminals hiding in one country (Al Qaeda in Afghanistan or Pakistan) by invading another country (Iraq), one of the main fronts has, dismayingly, been the home front, where the War on Terror takes the form of a War on Civil Liberties in the spurious name of security. To defend 'freedom and democracy', Western governments attack and diminish freedom and democracy in their own country. By this logic, someone will eventually have to invade the US and UK to restore freedom and democracy to them.'In this lucid and timely book Grayling sets out what's at risk, engages with the arguments for and against examining the cases made by Isaiah Berlin and Ronald Dworkin on the one hand, and Roger Scruton and John Gray on the other, and finally proposes a different way to respond that makes defending the civil liberties on which western society is founded the cornerstone for defeating terrorism.

Author Biography

A.C. Grayling is Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a multi-talented author. He believes that philosophy should take an active, useful role in society. He has been a regular contributor to The Times, Financial Times, Observer, Independent on Sunday, Economist, Literary Review, New Statesman and Prospect, and is a frequent and popular contributor to radio and television programs, including Newsnight, Today, In Our Time, Start the Week and CNN news. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum at Davos, and advises on many committees ranging from Drug Testing at Work to human rights groups.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Foreword	p. 1
Defending Liberties
Introduction to Part I	p. 9
Liberty and Terrorism	p. 17
Compromising Liberty	p. 26
Why Liberty Matters	p. 30
Identity and Identities	p. 37
Equality and Justice	p. 47
Civil Liberties in the West	p. 56
Free Speech and Censorship	p. 63
Free Speech and Civil Liberties	p. 69
Tolerance	p. 76
The 'War on Terror'	p. 85
Combating Terrorism	p. 90
Surveillance and Identity	p. 98
Identity for Sale	p. 105
Privacy	p. 110
Democracy	p. 116
We the People	p. 125
Civil Liberties and Human Rights	p. 131
Debates
Introduction to Part II	p. 155
Liberty and Enlightenment Values	p. 157
Isaiah Berlin and Liberty	p. 161
Ronald Dworkin and Liberty	p. 168
Roger Scruton and Sentimental Reaction	p. 172
John Gray and the Pose of Pessimism	p. 179
Slavoj Zizek and the Inversion of Values	p. 190
John Ralston Saul and Voltaire's Bastards	p. 197
Tzvetan Todorov: Hope and the Good	p. 203
History and Progress in the Twentieth Century	p. 211
Justice at Last?	p. 216
Laws and measures that have reduced civil liberties in the United Kingdom and the United States in recent years	p. 227
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights	p. 245
The European Convention on Human Rights	p. 253
The Human Rights Act	p. 260
Index	p. 273
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