Keywords
ideology
psychology of extremism
violence in politics
How to Cite
Number of views: 10
Number of downloads: 5
Abstract
In this paper I present and assess Quassim Cassam’s account of extremism. Cassam claims that there can be three basic types of accounts of extremism: ideological extremism, methods extremism, and psychological extremism, and the last one is probably the best. Cassam’s psychological account of extremism has some important advantages. First, it explains why some people are prone to very radical changes in their ideology. Second, it makes possible for a person with fairly mainstream ideology to be an extremist. Third, psychological account of extremism explains the possible discrepancy between one’s ideology and action: It is possible that a person with decidedly extreme beliefs does not resort to any extreme actions.
References
Baron J., Rationality and Intelligence, Cambridge University Press 1985.
Berlin I., The Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays, Vintage Books 2013.
Cassam Q., Conspiracy Theories, Polity 2019.
Cassam Q., Extremism. A Philosophical Analysis, Routledge 2021.
Cassam Q., Vice Epistemology, Routledge 2020.
Cassam Q., Vices of the Mind, Oxford University Press 2019.
Clark M., Mussolini, Routledge 2014.
Hume D., Traktat o naturze ludzkiej, Warszawa : Fundacja Aletheia 2005.
Lucardie P., Democratic Extremism in Theory and Practice: All Power to the People, Routledge 2014.
Mandela N., Long Walk to Freedom, Little Brown and Company 1994.
Margalit A., On Compromise and Rotten Compromises, Princeton University Press 2010.
McMahan J., Killing in War, Oxford University Press 2009.
Midlarsky M., Origins of political extremism: mass violence in the twentieth century and beyond, Cambridge University Press 2011.
Mullroy D., American Extremism: History, Politics and the Militia Movement, Routledge 2004.
Ney-Krwawicz M., Armia Krajowa: siły zbrojne Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego, Oficyna Wydawnicza Rytm 2009.
Roth P., American Pastoral, Vintage Books 1997.
Saucier et al, “Patterns of Thinking in Militant Extremism”, Perspectives on Psychological Science 4: 256-71
Scruton R., The Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought, Palgrave Macmillan 2007.
Short P., The History of a Nightmare, John Murray Press 2004.
Staniforth A., Preventing Terrorism and Violent Extremism, Oxford University Press 2014.
Williams B., Morality and the Emotions, w: B. Williams, Problems of the Self, Cambridge University Press: 207-29.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_protest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Replacement
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Bartosz Kaluziński
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.