ABSTRACT
This introduction covers some key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The basic claim animating the book is that the study of the perpetration of genocide will benefit from a comprehensive, philosophical development and prioritization of the notion of the “genocidal” versus the notion of “genocide.” Registering this shift brings into focus events that are often marginalized—legally, socially, and politically—in discussions of genocide. Where dominant theoretical approaches to genocide prioritize the couplet of intention-action, the book suggests first examining the form of action, so that the way to assess a particular action is to locate it amidst and with reference to other actions. Philosophers writing about genocide have generally been concerned with analytic questions surrounding the definition of the word “genocide” or with how to understand membership in a group. The book's approach does not dismiss these efforts, but it does attempt to frame them in a particular way, to put them in a particular context.
