Bob Brecher 
Torture and the Ticking Bomb [PDF ebook] 

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 des matières

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

A propos de l’auteur

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.