The transformation of the concepts "terror/terrorism" in contemporary socio-philosophical discourse

Terror and terrorism are being studied not only and not so much in the academic context. Criminologists and military experts are exploring the technologies of terrorist and anti-terrorist struggle. Lawyers are engaged in understanding the legal status of various types of modern terrorism. Politicians develop political strategies to counter the threat of terror. In various fields of social and human sciences, many works written by political scientists, jurists, historians, sociologists, social psychologists, culturologists, philosophers, etc. have been devoted to the problems of terror and terrorism. Even the best definitions of terror/terrorism suffer from incompleteness. Last but not least, this is because the overwhelming majority of studies are devoted exclusively to studying the actual side of the problem, and extremely little-to the analysis of social reflection on it. In particular, certain types of terror and terrorism are studied, classifications are created, socio-political preconditions of terrorist acts are analyzed and the ideological foundations of the policy of terror are analyzed. In a word, first of all, the phenomenon itself is studied, and not the ways of its representation and conceptualization in intellectual culture, socially significant discourses, public sphere and everyday communication. After all, in addition to the very facts of extremism and the use of political violence, there is still the construction of the notion of these practices in the public consciousness. In addition to the very phenomenon of terror / terrorism, there is still a concept, the context of its understanding and interpretation, as well as a sociopolitical discussion of its meaning, a complex of emotional reactions and a discursive formulation of judgments about it. © 2018 Transilvanian Association for the Literarure and Culture of Romanian People (ASTRA). All rights reserved.