Rethinking the Philosophy of Terrorism

This project will, for the first time, bring together philosophers, terrorism researchers and non-academic stakeholders in a joint research network. The main objectives of this network are to: initiate a cross-disciplinary dialogue between theoretical philosophy and terrorism studies, establish the metaphysics and epistemology of terrorism and counterterrorism as new and valuable fields of research, identify and address important epistemological and metaphysical questions about terrorism, and influence official thinking about terrorism and counterterrorism. This will be the first research network of its kind. The PI and CI will host three workshops, publish a paper on the 'new' philosophy of terrorism in a top terrorism studies journal, and produce a report for policy makers and the intelligence community.

After the 9/11 attacks the U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld famously distinguished between known knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns. Prior to 9/11, the use of commercial airliners as weapons of mass destruction was an unknown unknown. These are things we don't know and don't know we don't know. Rumsfeld pointed out that the biggest concern of governments and their intelligence communities is unknown unknown terrorist threats. In his view, the failure of the intelligence community to anticipate the 9/11 attacks was above all a failure of imagination.

Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge, including the study of what we can and can't know. Rumsfeld's brief remarks pointed to some of the epistemological questions that terrorism researchers, policy makers and intelligence professionals have to face every day. Such questions have also attracted the attention of some terrorism researchers in academia. One might have expected, therefore, that the epistemology of terrorism would be an established field of interdisciplinary research, involving both epistemologists and terrorism researchers. It is not.

There is an established field known as the Philosophy of Terrorism, but the only two questions that are discussed in this field are: how should terrorism be defined, and can terrorism be morally justified? Epistemology and other areas of what is known as 'theoretical philosophy', such as metaphysics and philosophy of mind, have so far played no part in the philosophy of terrorism. Nor has the philosophy of terrorism been of much interest to terrorism researchers. As a result, opportunities for valuable interdisciplinary research have been, and are being, missed.

It isn't just knowledge of impending terrorist attacks that is needed. It is also essential to gain knowledge of the root causes of terrorism and what makes terrorists tick. Among the questions to which answers are needed are: is terrorism a 'collectively rational strategic choice', as claimed by the distinguished terrorism expert Martha Crenshaw? Is it possible to make sense of the motives and actions of extremist groups like ISIS? Engaging with another person's subjectivity - that is, seeing things from their point of view - usually requires empathy. Is empathy possible or appropriate when it comes to understanding terrorist motivations and actions? What light can philosophy cast on the radicalisation process? What are the causes of radicalisation, and how does radicalisation lead to terrorism? How should the notion of a cause be understood in these contexts? What is the role of imagination in our ability to predict futures terrorist attacks?

Some of these questions are epistemological, but others bring in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. The nature of causation is a core topic in metaphysics, and how we understand other minds is a core topic in philosophy of mind, as well as epistemology. As well as contributing to the future development of terrorism studies this project will also encourage theoretical philosophers to reflect on the practical application and implications of their theories of mind and knowledge.