How to Define Terrorism

John Austin Seminars - How to Define Terrorism

Speaker: Quassim Cassam, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick

Chair: Kevin Toh, Professor of Philosophy of Law, UCL Laws 

About the Seminar:

This lecture will discuss scholarly and legal definitions of terrorism in the light of recent developments in the philosophy of definition. The position to be defended is a form of relaxed pessimism. On this view, there are compelling reasons not to expect a watertight definition of terrorism, and there are compelling reasons not to be overly concerned by this. What we need for philosophical, legal, and counterterrorist purposes is an approximately correct or good enough definition of terrorism. Such a definition exists and is to be found in the Terrorism Act 2000. This definition will be shown to be superior to those offered by terrorism scholars.  

About the Speaker: 

Quassim Cassam is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He was previously Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, Professor of Philosophy at UCL, and Reader in Philosophy at Oxford. He is the author of seven books, the most recent of which is Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis (Routledge 2022).

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