Friday, July 09, 2010

Pg. 99: Stephen Nathanson's "Terrorism and the Ethics of War"

The current feature at the Page 99 Test: Terrorism and the Ethics of War by Stephen Nathanson.

About the book, from the publisher:
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.
Read an excerpt from Terrorism and the Ethics of War, and learn more about the book at the Cambridge University Press website.

Stephen Nathanson is Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University.

The Page 99 Test: Terrorism and the Ethics of War.

--Marshal Zeringue