Terrorism and the Ethics of War

by Stephen Nathanson

• ISBN13: 9780521199957
• ISBN10: 0521199956
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Most people strongly condemn terrorism; yet they often fail to say how terrorist acts differ from other acts of violence such as the killing of civilians in war. Stephen Nathanson argues that we cannot have morally credible views about terrorism if we focus on terrorism alone and neglect broader issues about the ethics of war. His book challenges influential views on the ethics of war, including the realist view that morality does not apply to war, and Michael Walzer's defence of attacks on civilians in 'supreme emergency' circumstances. It provides a clear definition of terrorism, an analysis of what makes terrorism morally wrong, and a rule-utilitarian defence of noncombatant immunity, as well as discussions of the Allied bombings of cities in World War II, collateral damage, and the clash between rights theories and utilitarianism. It will interest a wide range of readers in philosophy, political theory, international relations, and law.

Author Biography

Stephen Nathanson is professor of philosophy at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of several books, including patriotism, Morality and peace (1993) and Economic justice (1998), as well as numerous articles on issues in ethics and political philosophy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Terrorism: What's in a Name?	p. 9
The problem of defining terrorism	p. 11
Defining terrorism	p. 24
What makes terrorism wrong?	p. 30
Innocence and discrimination	p. 40
ôWho dun itö definitions of terrorism	p. 59
Conclusion: taking stock	p. 73
Why Moral Condemnations of Terrorism Lack Credibility	p. 75
Introduction: toward morally credible condemnations of terrorism	p. 77
Why standard theories fail to condemn terrorism	p. 79
Just war theory and the problem of collateral damage	p. 94
Conclusion: categorical vs. conditional criticisms of terrorism	p. 104
Defending Noncombatant Immunity	p. 107
Introduction: the ethics of war-fighting: a spectrum of possible views	p. 109
The realist challenge to the ethics of war	p. 114
An ethic of war for reasonable realists	p. 125
Walzer on noncombatant immunity as a human right	p. 133
The supreme emergency exception	p. 146
Rights theories, utilitarianism, and the killing of civilians	p. 160
Immunity rights vs. the right of self-defense	p. 175
A rule-utilitarian defense of noncombatant immunity	p. 191
Why utilitarian criticisms of noncombatant immunity are mistaken	p. 212
Is noncombatant immunity a ômereö convention?	p. 229
How Much Immunity should Noncombatants Have?	p. 247
Introduction: the problem of collateral damage	p. 249
The problem of collateral damage killings	p. 251
The ethics of collateral damage killings	p. 269
Conclusion: terrorism and the ethics of war	p. 288
Bibliography	p. 303
Index	p. 314
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