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Argument Analysis: The Case Torture

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Recommended: Summary of the case for torture

The readers can tell that in the book The Case Torture the author is for one side of the story and the arguments he makes through the whole story makes the readers think about the side that he chose. Just like in the first paragraph when the author said “suppose a terrorist has hidden an atomic bomb on Manhattan island which will detonate at noon on July 4 unless… (Here follow the usual demands for money and release of his friends from jail). Suppose, further, that he is caught at 10 A.M. of the fateful day, but- preferring death to failure- won’t disclose where the bomb is.”(Lavin 605) The author give an example of when he feels like it would be right to use torture as a of getting the truth out, and in this example he is trying to persuade …show more content…

The readers can see that the author is using pathos to appeal to the reader’s emotion by telling the reader that it is probably their fault that those millions of people died because of them, and if they would have just used the electrodes this wouldn’t have happened. After that the author goes on and tries to appeal to the mothers by saying, “Suppose a terrorist group kidnapped a newborn baby from a hospital. I asked four mothers if they would approve of torturing kidnappers if that were necessary to get their own newborns back. All said yes, the most “liberal” adding that she would administer it herself” (Lavin 606). The reader can tell that the author was trying to appeal to the mother; the author added a situation where someone kidnapped their new born and asked them what they would do as the readers know that the mothers other would go to any extent to make sure that their child is fine and safe. After that, then the author goes on by saying “I am not advocating torture as punishment” (Lavin 606). In a way, the author is advocating torture as a punishment, but then the author doesn’t want readers to think that they in favor of torture for punishment in some

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In the article “The Case for Torture”, Michael Levin argues that the use of torture as a way to save lives is justifiable and necessary. Levin draws a series of cases where torture might be acceptable so as to set certain precedent for the justification of torture in more realistic cases. HoweverLevin illustrates three cases where torture might be justifiable.he describes a terrorist keeping city of millions hostage to an atomic bomb, the second, a terrorist who has implanted remote bombs on a plane and the third, a terrorist who has kidnapped a baby. torture and its consequences have been recorded in countries around of world over a vast span of time, and for a variety of reasons. Levin makes no such attempt to expand his article beyond

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Alan Dershowitz begins his article “ Should the Ticking Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured” by questioning whether one person can be tortured to save the lives of many others. Dershowitz displays both sides of the argument before shifting the question. Dershowitz asserts that the question is not if torture should be used on a ticking bomb terrorist, rather the question is whether the torture is done openly under a legal framework or secretly and illegally. He then simplifies the conflict to the prioritization of values. While the argument that Dershowitz constructs seems to leave very little room for disagreement, there are ways in which to collapse his entire premise.

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Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement states “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” This is important because torture is brutal on the body and mind. The article “Torture’s Terrible Toll” by John McCain is more convincing then the article “The Case for Torture” by Michael Levin because McCain provides more logical reasoning, he adds his own personal experience of being a captured prisoner during the Vietnam War, and he creates an emotional bond with people around the world. Through more logical reasoning McCain Argument is more valid than Levin.

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“Authorizing torture is a bad and dangerous idea that can easily be made to sound plausible.” This is a shockingly true statement. Heymann’s purpose in writing this article is to persuade readers to agree with him that torture should not be authorized. Heymann uses the persuasive appeal of pathos primarily in this article to convince his readers to agree with him. Although that is not to say he did not use other forms of persuasive appeal, heymann also used Logos and Ethos, just not as strongly as Pathos.

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In Michael Levin’s “The Case for Torture”, he uses many cases of emotional appeal to persuade the reader that torture is necessary in extreme cases. There are many terms/statements that stick with the reader throughout the essay so that they will have more attachment to what is being said. Levin is particularly leaning to an audience based in the United States because he uses an allusion to reference an event that happened within the states and will better relate to the people that were impacted by it. The emotional appeals used in this essay are used for the purpose of persuading the reader to agree that in extreme instances torture is necessary and the United States should begin considering it as a tactic for future cases of extremity. One major eye catching factor of this essay is the repetitive use of words that imply certain stigmas.

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I feel as if the pain that a criminal would feel from being tortured, without any moral or ethical considerations, is worth it if it saves a life that would otherwise be lost. One response to the Dirty Case is that interrogative torture, such as the technique used by the officer on the kidnapper, is not effective. Steinhoff argues that this is incorrect because sometimes the torturer does get what he is looking for as in the Dirty Harry case. To further defend against this response, Stein a One-Million-Pains-To-One-Kill-Gun argument. With this argument, essentially a person is being shot at by an aggressor and is eventually going to be hit unless they were to fire a gun with a 1 in 1 million chance of immediately stunning the aggressor to avoid being killed.

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In Michael Levin's The Case for Torture, Levin provides an argument in which he discusses the significance of inflicting torture to perpetrators as a way of punishment. In his argument, he dispenses a critical approach into what he believes justifies torture in certain situations. Torture is assumed to be banned in our culture and the thought of it takes society back to the brutal ages. He argues that societies that are enlightened reject torture and the authoritative figure that engage in its application risk the displeasure of the United States. In his perspective, he provides instances in which wrongdoers put the lives of innocent people at risk and discusses the aspect of death and idealism.

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While analyzing “The Torture Myth” and “The Case for Torture”, it is very clear to see the type of rhetorical appeals used to persuade the audience. Anne Applebaum, the writer of “The Torture Myth” --in context of the decision of electing a new Attorney General--would argue that torture is very seldomly effective, violates a person’s rights, and should be outlawed due to the irrational need upon which physical torture is used. On the other hand, Michael Levin strongly argues that physical torture is crucial to solving every imminent danger to civilians. Levin claims that if you don’t physically torture someone, you are being weak and want to allow innocent people to die over something that could have been simply done.

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In medieval times, torture was used to punish criminals, deter crime, and gather information. There were many different types of tortures, most of which were brutal and painful. At the time, torture was deemed necessary to maintain order. Laws were harsh and torture was severe, but effective form of punishment. Despite its effectiveness, torture was often an unfair and extremely cruel punishment, and should have been eliminated in all forms.

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1) Of the three primary units we have completed in this course, the most challenging unit for me was the argument (persuasion) unit. I was surprised at how much I struggled both in the pre-writing process and in the writing process. To begin with, because I love arguments, I had trouble choosing a topic. In the end, I decided to challenge myself with the policy that requires sex offender to be added to a public registry policy. Instead of going with my initial stance (opposition), I decided to flip the scrip and argue the opposite of what I believe (proposition).

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Torture’s goal is to destroy a sense of community, eliminate leaders, and overall create a climate of fear among the people. The author argues, "Thoughts and actions which, when detected, mean certain death are not formally forbidden, and the endless purgers, arrests, tortures, imprisonments, and vaporizations are not inflicted as punishment for a crime that has actually been committed, but is merely the wiping-out of a person who might perhaps commit a crime at some time in the future” (Orwell 123). In the novel, torture is used as wiping out a person's ideas to never disobey the party in the future. Following, torture can be used as a way to show that someone has power. In addition to that, someone with such power might need to silence those who could potentially disobey them.

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They want you want you to see that they never would have gotten Bin Laden if they wouldn’t have tortured a couple people. It is kind of a way to educate the public that torturing is a thing that our government does and the it is sometimes needed for the greater good. No matter how inhuman it seems, it is being down to save many lives in the

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In this article the author asks the question as to whether torture is a viable source in getting information. Since there is other moral ways of getting information. Some of these methods have shown to be more efficient. They also leave the victim’s mind intact. Janoff-Bulman, Ronnie.

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Most of the time when someone is tortured it is because the interrogators are desperate for Important or valuable information. However, why would real “terrorist” give up valuable information that would expose their cause and what they believe in when they know they are going to die one way or the other. This just goes to show that the “suspected terrorist” are in fact suspected and aren’t real terrorist and shouldn’t be

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When we discuss the topic of torture and how it has affected our history and even now in present day, it gave us a great understanding of how we as human beings display torture in various ways. Torture is the action or practice of inflating severe pain on someone as punishment or to force them to say or do something. Torture is even used for pleasure of the person inflicting the pain. It has always been a form of how to harm or break a individual.

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