Terrorism and Western Modernity: Religion, Reason and the Loss of the Real

After 9/11, terrorism became a central concern of the social sciences, with anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists and psychologists producing a vast amount of academic literature in the past few years. Most of these accounts deal with the implications, roots and possible countermeasures against the newly identified threat that has grown so strong after the end of the Cold War. But there is another side to this literature, produced by scholars of the humanities, a more abstract theoretical side that tries to identify the ideational framework in which the discourse on terrorism is situated. This review article will explore three contributions to this theoretical agenda which focus more on the philosophical intricacies expressed in acts of terror(ism). It will pay special attention to the perceived antagonism between modernity and its forces of reason and the clouded and superstitious realm of religious faith, as they relate to terrorism. In many instances the picture painted pitches rationality, the pursuit of reasonable action and the concomitant universalist project of modernity against a dark, medieval movement embodied in religiously motivated terrorism that tries to undermine the precious achievements of human liberty and freedom. In many accounts this conflict comes down to the old story of good versus evil. This depiction, however, can rightly be identified as overtly dichotomist and super ficial. The roots of both religion and reason are deeply intertwined and mirror each other in many ways. In this review, I consider three contributions to this debate that illuminate the abovementioned ideational background. The first publication we will consider is the much acclaimed book by Sam Harris, The End of Faith: Religion, Terror,