Philosophy Professor: Reject the Rhetoric of 'War' on Terror
April 2, 2016
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
In an op-ed in The Baltimore Sun, Joshua Kassner, associate professor in the University of Baltimore's Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies, writes that the use of the word "war" in the fight against terrorism is a mistake—one that may make it difficult to deal with a threat like ISIS.
"[P]oliticians from across the political spectrum have made public commitments to do whatever is needed to win this 'war' against ISIS," Kassner writes.
"We should reject this characterization. Continuing to conceive of the effort to defeat terrorism in general, and ISIS in particular, through the lens of war clouds our thinking and fails to address the full complexity of the social and political precursors upon which the viability of organizations like ISIS depend."
Instead, Kassner argues, a more holistic approach is required.
"We need to understand why young men and women from modern Western liberal societies are choosing to fight on the side of terrorists," he writes. "If our leaders are truly committed to doing all that is required to defeat terrorism and terrorist organizations like ISIS, these causes need to be taken as seriously as the symptoms."
Kassner adds that the rhetorical use of "war" is powerful and effective—and understandable.
"When, however, this line is blurred and rhetoric is taken for reality, the complexity of the problem is lost, and the lens becomes a narrow one in which the challenge and its solution are thought of primarily in terms of force."
Read the Sun op-ed.
Learn more about Prof. Kassner and the Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies in UB's Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences.