Psychology and Terrorism/Fear

Catalog description

One could argue that a “common sense” first appraisal of terrorists is that they are crazy and evil. Why else would people kill innocent people who mean them no harm and even kill themselves in the process? Relying on this common sense, President Bush branded the 9/11 hijackers as evil cowards. Others have argued that those who would commit suicide in their assaults on the free world are not rational and are not deterred by rational concepts. This course examines terrorists to find out who they are and what motivates them. In a related context, the Russian novelist, Fyodor Dostoyevsky said, “While nothing is easier than to denounce an evildoer, nothing is more difficult than to understand him.”