This timely and passionate book is the first to address itself to
Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz’s controversial
arguments for the limited use of interrogational torture and its
legalisation.
* Argues that the respectability Dershowitz’s arguments confer on
the view that torture is a legitimate weapon in the war on terror
needs urgently to be countered
* Takes on the advocates of torture on their own utilitarian
grounds
* Timely and passionately written, in an accessible, jargon-free
style
* Forms part of the provocative and timely Blackwell Public
Philosophy series
Table of Content
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
What is Torture? 3
Dershowitz on Interrogational Torture 6
Why Write about Torture? 8
The Agenda 11
2 The Fantasy of the Ticking Bomb Scenario 14
Dershowitz’s Argument and the Ticking Bomb 14
Who Tortures? 21
Effectiveness and Time 24
Knowledge and Necessity 31
The Ticking Bomb Scenario: Conclusion 38
3 The Consequences of Normalizing Interrogational Torture 40
Some Clarifications 41
Three Positive Claims about the Consequences of Legalizing Interrogational Torture 52
The Institutionalization of Interrogational Torture 57
A Torturous Society 72
4 Torture, Death and Philosophy 75
Torture 76
Torture, Death and Interrogation 79
Why No Decent Society Can Torture 84
Torture, the ‘War on Terror’ and Intellectual Irresponsibility 85
But What if Torture Really is the Only Possible Way to Avoid Catastrophe? 86
Two Final Points 88
Notes 89
Bibliography 109
Index 117
About the author
Bob Brecher is Reader in Moral Philosophy at the University of Brighton, UK and Director of its Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics. He is the author of two previous books, Anselm’s Argument: the Logic of Divine Existence and Getting What You Want?: a Critique of Liberal Morality (1998). He has published widely in ethics and social and political philosophy and was the founding editor of the journal Res Publica.
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