Is torture justifiable in extreme circumstances

[sallybutler]

What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? - Matthew 16:26

Thank you. We often forget about the souls of the people tasked with performing the torture. Please remember to pray for them.

 

[Bradski]

What we would all do in certain circumstances doesn’t really bear thinking about too much.

simplypsychology.org/milgram.html

Nobody in the experiment in that link gave the ‘learner’ less than 300 Volts. And there was zero reason to do so other than someone telling them to do it.

Put yourself in that position and ask yourself what you would do if the shock treatment would give information that would save your family.

Yes, it’s immoral. But being immoral doesn’t stop it being, in certain circumstances, the right thing to do.

 

[davidv]

What we would all do in certain circumstances doesn’t really bear thinking about too much.

simplypsychology.org/milgram.html

Nobody in the experiment in that link gave the ‘learner’ less than 300 Volts. And there was zero reason to do so other than someone telling them to do it.

Put yourself in that position and ask yourself what you would do if the shock treatment would give information that would save your family.

Yes, it’s immoral. But being immoral doesn’t stop it being, in certain circumstances, the right thing to do.

Since immoral = wrong, an immoral act can never be the right thing to do. It may often be the thing chosen. However, this won’t make it the right thing to do.

 

[Ender]

This example highlights my practical concerns with torture. They suspected the nature of the information they were supposedly given. They already had a yes-or-no question in mind, and the torture continued until a “yes” was given. That’s hardly information-extraction, it’s more like a game of Uncle.

Fine, throw out that one example. The example in the Philippines, however, shows exactly how torture can work to extract actionable information.

Ender