preview

Ethical Arguments For And Against Torture

Decent Essays

International conflict has evolved in recent decades from wars among nations to cat-and-mouse games of terrorism and counterterrorism between nations and non-state factions. National defense requires the development of reliable intelligence to prevent horrific acts of violence. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques to extract information from suspected terrorists has led to considerable debate of the morality and usefulness of torture. The moral dilemma asks whether agents of a democratic government should disregard the nation’s founding principles of liberty and the rule of law for the purpose of preventing a potential act of violence against its citizens. The answer to the moral question has policy implications about the conduct and costs of national …show more content…

This essay will explore the moral arguments for and against torture and the policy implications of those arguments. The moral defense of torture, however, ultimately rests on unrealistic scenarios and would require policies that, in themselves, pose ethical challenges. The United States can do better than resort to torture to protect itself. Torture is condemned by worldwide consensus through documents such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Mappes, Zembaty & DeGrazia, 2012, p. 345). Torture involves detaining someone suspected of planning violent acts or who may know of such plans, thereby violating the individual’s right to liberty (p. 384). It is also defined by extreme interrogation techniques that cause mental or physical pain, such as simulated drowning or Alan Dershowitz’s example of poking sterile needles under fingernails to get information (p. 345). Generally speaking, ethical theories would condemn torture.

Get Access