Philosophy of education in a new key: On radicalization and violent extremism

Abstract

This collective paper on radicalization and violent extremism part of the ‘Philosophy of education in a new key’ initiative by Educational Philosophy and Theory brings together some of the leading contemporary scholars writing on the most pressing epistemological, ethical, political and educational issues facing post-9/11 scholarship on radicalization and violent extremism. Its overall aim is to move beyond the ‘conventional wisdom’ associated with this area of scholarly research best represented by its many slogans, metaphors and other thought-terminating clichés. By providing conceptual lenses on issues previously compartmentalized primarily [or even exclusively] in security and intelligence studies or at the fringes of scholarly interest, radicalization and violent extremism turn out to be much more complex than ‘radicalization studies’ has been eager to acknowledge.

Keywords:

• Radicalization
• violent extremism
• terrorism
• counter-radicalization
• violence
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See Chapter 2 of my book Morality and Political Violence (2007) and my article "The Idea of Violence", Journal of Applied Philosophy (1986).

2 A similarly politically dangerous linguistic fashion is the wholesale condemnatory use of the term “conspiracy theory” which ignores the fact that conspiring is a common human habit. Theories about its occurrence will be sometimes mistaken or neurotic but often enough correct and thoroughly sane. For exploration of this, see Chapter 5 of David Coady’s book What To Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues (2012) and David Coady [ed.] Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate (2006).

3 For understanding of violence, I shall, with thanks to Mitja Sardoč for indicating it to me, follow the suggestion of Vittorio Bufacchi, from his book: “An act of violence occurs when the integrity or unity of a subject (…) or object (property) is being intentionally or unintentionally violated, as a result of an action or an omission. The violation may occur at the physical or psychological level, through physical or psychological means. A violation of integrity will usually result in the subject being harmed or injured, or the object being destroyed or damaged”. (2007: 44)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mitja Sardoč

Mitja Sardoč, PhD, is Senior Research Associate at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana (Slovenia). He is author of scholarly articles and editor of a number of journal special issues on citizenship education, multiculturalism, toleration, equality of opportunity, patriotism, radicalisation and violent extremism. He is Managing Editor of Theory and Research in Education, Editor-in-Chief of the Handbook of Patriotism (Springer) and The Palgrave Handbook of Toleration.

C. A. J. Coady

C. A. J. (Tony) Coady is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Melbourne, and Honorary Professor, Australian Catholic University. His books include Testimony: A Philosophical Study, Morality and Political Violence and Messy Morality: The Challenge of Politics. His new book, The Meaning of Terrorism is in press for publication in May 2021.

Vittorio Bufacchi

Vittorio Bufacchi is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at University College Cork, Ireland. He is the author of Social Injustice (Palgrave 2012) and Violence and Social Justice (Palgrave 2007). His next book, Covid 19 and the Philosopher, will be published by Manchester University Press in 2021.

Fathali M. Moghaddam

Fathali M. Moghaddam is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science, Georgetown University. Since 2014 he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the APA journal Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. He is the author of about 30 books and 300 articles.

Quassim Cassam

Quassim Cassam is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick. He was previously Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University, Professor of Philosophy at UCL and Reader in Philosophy at Oxford University. He is the author of six books, including Vices of the Mind: From the Intellectual to the Political (Oxford 2019), Conspiracy Theories (Polity 2019), and Self-Knowledge for Humans (Oxford 2014). His current research interests include the philosophy of terrorism and extremism. His next book, Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis, will be published in 2021.

Derek Silva

Derek Silva is Assistant Professor of criminology at King's University College. He has published widely on topics related to terrorism and sport in peer-reviewed journals Race ∧ Class, Punishment & Society, Crime, Media, Culture and popular outlets such as TIME Magazine, The Guardian, Jacobin, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Nenad Miščević

Nenad Miščević, born 1950 in Zagreb, studied philosophy in Zagreb and Chicago, and graduated in Zagreb. He then went to continue in Pariz and Ljubljana, and finally defended his dissertation on speech acts in Ljubljana. He is working in the fields of political philosophy, epistemology and the philosophy of language.

Gorazd Andrejč

Gorazd Andrejč is a philosopher of religion. His research has included studies in the thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and that of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and on topics such as interreligious disagreement, the relationship between felt experience and religious language, and religion, humanism and technology. He is the author of Wittgenstein and Interreligious Disagreement (Palgrave MacMillan, 2016).

Zdenko Kodelja

Zdenko Kodelja, PhD both in Philosophy and in Education, is a full-time researcher and Head of the Centre for Philosophy of Education at the Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the author of seven books and his complete bibliography includes more than 600 units (chapters in books, essays, articles, interviews, research reports, etc.).

Boris Vezjak

Boris Vezjak, PhD, is an Associate Professor of philosophy in the department of philosophy at the Faculty of Arts in Maribor, Slovenia. His professional fields of interest cover various topics, such as history of philosopy, discourse theory, media analysis and theory of argumentation. His publications include many articles, translations and seven monographs, mainly focused on history of philosophy, media and social analysis.

Michael A. Peters

Michael A. Peters is Distinguished Professor at Beijing Normal University, China, and Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is the executive editor of the journal, Educational Philosophy and Theory. His interests are in education, philosophy and social policy and he is a lifelong Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities. His research interests are in educational philosophy, theory and policy studies with a focus on the significance of both contemporary philosophers and the movements of poststructuralism, critical theory and analytic philosophy to the framing of educational theory and practice.

Marek Tesar

Marek Tesar is an Associate Professor of childhood studies and early childhood education, and the Associate Dean International at the University of Auckland. His current scholarship is in early childhood education in New Zealand as well as in cross-country contexts. His work focuses on educational policy, philosophy, pedagogy, methodology and curriculum, and draws on his background as a qualified teacher as well as his extensive knowledge of international education systems. Marek's research and scholarship is underpinned by notions of a fair and democratic society, in which creative thinking and disciplines shape professional practice, and where the child's voice and participation, particularly in early childhood, are taken seriously.