The Ethics of Self-Sacrifice: What's Wrong with Suicide Bombing?

Abstract

What's wrong with suicide bombing? The tactic has been used by the Tamil Tigers, by the Japanese kamikaze, by al-Qaeda, by Palestinian militants against Israel, by Iraqi defenders loyal to Saddam Hussein against the U.S. invasion, and by others; it is typically understood by these groups as martyrdom rather than suicide. Scientific theories of suicide—biological, psychological, and sociological—do not contribute to an understanding. Nor is the claim that it is amoral, the product of psychopathology or mental illness, adequate. The central moral core of the issue of suicide bombing rests, rather, on the violation of a tacit assumption of equality in combat: “they” have a weapon “we” don't.