Terrorism and the Ethics of War

Introduction; Part I. Terrorism: What's in a Name?: 1. The problem of defining terrorism; 2. Defining terrorism; 3. What makes terrorism wrong?; 4. Innocence and discrimination; 5. 'Who dun it' definitions of terrorism; Conclusion: taking stock; Part II. Why Moral Condemnations of Terrorism Lack Credibility: Introduction: toward morally credible condemnations of terrorism; 6. Why standard theories fail to condemn terrorism; 7. Just war theory and the problem of collateral damage; Conclusion: categorical vs. conditional criticisms of terrorism; Part III. Defending Noncombatant Immunity: Introduction: the ethics of war-fighting: a spectrum of possible views; 8. The realist challenge to the ethics of war; 9. An ethic of war for reasonable realists; 10. Walzer on noncombatant immunity as a human right; 11. The supreme emergency exception; 12. Rights theories, utilitarianism, and the killing of civilians; 13. Immunity rights vs. the right of self-defense; 14. A rule utilitarian defense of noncombatant immunity; 15. Why utilitarian criticisms of noncombatant immunity are mistaken; 16. Is noncombatant immunity a 'mere' convention?; Part IV. How Much Immunity Should Noncombatants Have?: Introduction: the problem of collateral damage; 17. The problem of collateral damage killings; 18. The ethics of collateral damage killings; Conclusion: terrorism and the ethics of war; Bibliography; Index.

Stephen Nathanson is Professor of Philosophy at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of Should We Consent to be Governed? (1992, 2000) and of numerous articles on the death penalty, patriotism and economic justice.