%0 Journal Article
%T The War on Concepts: The Thought of Jan Pato ka and the War on Terror
%A Katy Scrogin
%J Kritike : an Online Journal of Philosophy
%D 2008
%I kritike.org
%X Along with the notion of war in general, the so-called war on terror has been, since its inception in 2001, the subject of much debate and theorization. French thinker Gilles Andr¨¦ani discusses the appropriateness of the term "war" to apply to the present conflict; Antonio Negri has argued how the State's use of the concept of peace justifies its engagement in warfare in general. I approach the conversation, however, by presenting the thoughts of 20th century Czech philosopher Jan Pato ka on the relationship between war and peace. Here, I utilize his views, formulated in the context of Soviet control of Eastern Europe, to deconstruct the Bush administration's declaration of war on a concept; in this case, terror. In what follows, I delineate the main aspects of Pato ka's understanding of continuous warfare in the 20th century, after which I apply them to some of the central features of the Bush administration's war rhetoric. Additionally, I suggest that Pato ka's notion of the solidarity of the shaken may provide a starting point from which all of those involved in the conflict may begin to move forward.
%K Jan Pato ka
%K concepts
%K war on terror
%U http://www.kritike.org/journal/issue_3/scrogin_june2008.pdf