As a guest user you are not logged in or recognized by your IP address. You have
access to the Front Matter, Abstracts, Author Index, Subject Index and the full
text of Open Access publications.
The failure of pure psychological profiling to capture the identities of suicide bombers should prompt moves towards a more interdisciplinary approach, which would avail itself of insights from disciplines such as sociology, philosophy and the history of ideas, as well as from psychology. This chapter aims in that direction by exploring ‘traditional’ versus ‘Western liberal’ conceptions of the self, with special emphasis on their possible pathologies. It then aims to integrate those pathologies with insights from Durkheimian suicidology. It is hypothesised that suicide bombers in the West are typically callow, malleable young men targeted by terror merchants, and that their suicide missions are, first and foremost, acts of deluded self-enhancement, which need to be understood against the backdrop of the Western liberal conception of the self. Finally, some implications for moral education are suggested.
This website uses cookies
We use cookies to provide you with the best possible experience. They also allow us to analyze user behavior in order to constantly improve the website for you. Info about the privacy policy of IOS Press.
This website uses cookies
We use cookies to provide you with the best possible experience. They also allow us to analyze user behavior in order to constantly improve the website for you. Info about the privacy policy of IOS Press.