Humiliation and terrorism

Peter Olsthoorn approaches terrorists' motives from the perspective of political philosophy. He seeks to explain the notions of humiliation, dignity and honor, which occur frequently in discussions of terrorism. He argues that Western cultures have in the process of individualization replaced shame, the obverse of honor, with guilt. The Islamic world, on the other hand, has not only retained a sense of honor along witha more collectivist culture, notions of honor and shame seem only to have gained in importance. Olsthoorn concludes that there are multiple objections to offering humiliation as an explanation of terrorism and that, in any case, such an explanation does not amount to justificatio