Jessica Wolfendale – författare

In 2005, US Marines killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha, including several children. How should we assess the perpetrators of this and other war crimes? Is it unfair to blame the Marines because they were subject to situational pressures such as combat stress (and had lost one of their own in combat)? Or should they be held responsible for their actions, since they intentionally chose to kill civilians? In this book, Matthew Talbert and Jessica Wolfendale take up these moral questions and propose an original theory of the causes of war crimes and the responsibility of war crimes perpetrators. In the first half of the book, they challenge accounts that explain war crimes by reference to the situational pressures endured by military personnel, including peer pressure, combat stress, and propaganda. The authors propose an alternative theory that explains how military personnel make sense of their participation in war crimes through their self-conceptions, goals, and values. In the second half of the book, the authors consider and reject theories of responsibility that excuse perpetrators on the grounds that situational pressures often encourage them to believe that their behavior is permissible. Such theories of responsibility are unacceptably exculpatory, implying it is unreasonable for victims of war crimes to blame their attackers. By contrast, Talbert and Wolfendale argue that perpetrators of war crimes may be blameworthy if their actions express objectionable attitudes towards their victims, even if they sincerely believe that what they are doing is right.

For most Americans the terms 'torture' and 'terrorism' evoke barbaric regimes and savage enemies, not liberal democracies dedicated to human rights and freedom, as the United States claims to be. American Torture and American Terrorism demonstrates the falsity of the claim that America is a nation fundamentally opposed to torture and terrorism. Drawing on and developing victim-centred definitions of torture and terrorism, Wolfendale reveals how these forms of violence have been embedded within American institutions since the country's founding. From the earliest days of colonization to today's prison conditions, high rates of police violence, and drone warfare, torture and terrorism have been used to dominate, attack, threaten, and control groups and individuals-primarily people of color-viewed as dangerous to white political and social domination. But this reality has been ignored and distorted, if not completely forgotten. By recognizing and naming the violence inflicted on victims of American torture and terrorism, Wolfendale provides a crucial corrective against this national amnesia.

If you just can't decide what to wear, this enlightening guide will lead you through the diverse and sometimes contradictory aspects of fashion in a series of lively, entertaining and thoughtful essays from prominent philosophers and writers. A unique and enlightening insight into the underlying philosophy behind the power of fashion Contributions address issues in fashion from a variety of viewpoints, including aesthetics, the nature of fashion and fashionability, ethics, gender and identity politics, and design Includes a foreword by Jennifer Baumgardner, feminist author, activist and cultural critic, editor of Ms magazine (1993-7) and regular contributor to major women's magazines including Glamour and Marie-Claire