TEXT: Reading 1. Moral Psychology of Terrorism (2013) Ch 1,2,3
Forum Assignment for the Week: 300 Words minimum
For this week's Forum, respond to the following: This week we consider the motivations for engaging in terrorist activities offered in our course materials. Many considerations related to the motivations leading to acts of terrorism have been suggested.
French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre advanced the position of mankind's fundamental choice, in essence one has the presence of mind when deciding to actively participate in terrorist acts.
Sigmund Freud's structure of mind theory may also provide some insight into the role of one's ego and its balance, or lack thereof, as a guide in motivating terroristic behavior.
From the view of an externalist, factors like dreams, seen as messages from divine beings or other religious motivators and political factors may prove to be powerful motivating factors in advancing terrorist activity.
o After review of the course materials, identify the motivational process you see as most accurately moving one to carry out terrorist activity.
o Share your thoughts on whether the motivational process leading to terrorist acts is an individual psychological process or if it is a function of group interactions.
o Tell us why you have selected the position you have as you interact with others during the week.
Your post must also end with a "Question to the Class" - something related to the topic that you found thought-provoking and about which you'd like to know more and have further dialog.
General Instructions Applicable to All Forums:
Forum post source citation is not required for forum posting in our class. This is because we are engaging in conversation that happens to be in writing form, not composing essays or research papers. You will, however, need to paraphrase (restate in your own words) any words of published authors in parts of your posts that are based on their work.
Copying of published material, which is plagiarism, is prohibited and any instances of it, including forum posts, will result in a zero score without an option for re-submission to recoup lost points and a report sent to the Registrar's Office per University policy.
Discussion forum posts will be graded on verbal expression, critical thinking, making an effort to not just participate in but contribute to the dialog with initial and reply posts of a substantive nature commensurate with graduate level studies. Posts must have correct grammatical construction, spelling, and punctuation with no texting or other casual style language.