Philosophy 2083F/G Lecture Notes - Randomness, Just War Theory, Liberal Democracy
6 Dec 2012
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Just war theory helps us understand the wrongfulness of terrorism. First, consider the choice of terror as a political strategy, and then worry about some of the problems of combating it. Terrorism is the random killing of innocent people, in the hope of creating pervasive fear. Fear can serve many different political purposes. Randomness and innocence are the crucial elements in the definition. Innocence functions in the theory as a term of art; it describes the group of non- combatants, civilians, men and women who are not materially engaged in the war effort. The opposite of innocent is not guilty but engaged. Disengaged civilians are innocent without regard to their personal morality or politics. A lot of soldiers are not actual combatants; they serve behind the lines. Meaning of membership in an army and in civilian society the army is an organized and all its members contribute to the achievement of its ends.
