Since 1998, the Royal Institute of Philosophy has held an annual lecture in London, inviting a philosopher of international standing to give a talk on the topic of his or her choosing. This year's Annual London Lecture is held during the Royal Institute's centenary year.
This event includes a post-lecture "in conversation" session with our Academic Director Edward Harcourt, followed by audience Q&A.
Extremism without Politics
Some acts of violence have the purpose of advancing a political, ideological, religious, or racial cause. Individuals who perpetrate this type of violence are classified as extremists or even as terrorists. Their causes transcend the merely personal and involve a larger purpose that is believed to be worth pursuing because of its perceived moral, political, or social value. Yet not all such transcendent causes are political, ideological, racial, or religious as these notions are normally understood. We are witnessing an increase in acts of violence in pursuit of novel causes that are not merely personal. The 1999 Columbine High school massacre is a notable example which raises difficult questions about what counts as a cause, what counts as a political or ideological cause, and the contrast between personal and transcendent causes. As a result, it is hard to know whether to classify the perpetrators as extremists or simply as violent criminals. This lecture will be an attempt to bring clarity to these issues and defend the thesis that novel cause violence represents a new type of extremism. The lecture will conclude with reflections on the significance of this type of extremism for the legal definition of terrorism.
About the speakerQuassim Cassam is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He was previously Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge, Professor of Philosophy at UCL, and Reader in Philosophy at Oxford. He is the author of seven books, including Vices of the Mind (Oxford 2019), Conspiracy Theories (Polity 2019), and Extremism: A Philosophical Analysis (Routledge 2022).
