Abstract
The moral condemnation of terrorism as such is founded upon the central tenet of the “war ethic”—the principle that war allows only the killing of enemy soldiers, whereas intentional killing of noncombatants remains murder. If the principle of noncombatant immunity is abandoned, the evil of terrorism fades into the general horror of warfare. Where nonpacifists express moral outrage against terrorism, they are necessarily affirming a commitment to noncombatant immunity. Noncombatant immunity is popularly known as the prohibition against “killing the innocent.” This way of putting things has been criticized, for it implies that unlike the protected civilians, the soldiers— killing of whom is not deemed murder—are guilty, or at least not so
Published Version
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