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Torture Is Unethical

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Torture is the action of willingly hurting a person psychologically or physically. The use of torture by individuals, groups, and authorities has been going on from ancient times until today. In the 4th Century, voices started being raised against the use of torture. In fact, well-known philosopher and scientist, Aristotle, revealed the downfalls of torture, “those under compulsion are as likely to give false evidence as true, some being ready to endure everything rather than tell the truth, while others are really ready to make false charges against others, in the hope of being sooner released from torture”. In order to prevent further terrorist attacks, the CIA had to practice unethical questioning methods such as psychological techniques, sensory bombardment consisting of subjecting the tortured to continuous extremely …show more content…

Governments have sworn to always protect their citizens, in order to achieve this protection governments rely on police, intelligence agencies and information gathering. These agencies are required to collect crucial information and need favorable laws and tools to achieve it; one of them is torture. Does the end justify the mean? After the capture of Al-Qaeda’s fanatics, former president of the United States, George W. Bush, praised the CIA for their achievement “We’re fortunate to have men and women who work hard at the CIA serving on our behalf”. On the other hand, the level of torture used in developed countries is considered acceptable in comparison with the level of torture used in under developed countries where there are no limits even if it reaches death. Society may argue that guilty deserve punishment. Nevertheless, some interrogators resort to extending beneficial offers to their detainees to avoid the use of torture such as witness protection also known as Witness Security Program (WITSEC) run by the department of justice that is intended to defend witnesses during their

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185 Words | 1 Pages

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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1694 Words | 7 Pages

Many have said that they would want nonlethal torture to be used in such cases but “did not want torture to be officially recognized by our legal system.” Similar statements have posited that while “torture might be necessary in a given situation it could never be right.” This approach, that of keeping torture off-the-books, is in direct conflict with the necessity for accountability and transparency in a democracy. A democracy cannot work if the public is kept in the dark. The public must know what is going on in order to approve or disapprove.

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699 Words | 3 Pages

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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947 Words | 4 Pages

Pierre Trudeau was one of the iconic leaders of Canada who brought forth a new verve of energy in the country. It was his charismatic personality coupled with revolutionary ideas and beliefs that helped him climb up the ladder to serve the most prestigious and responsible chair of the country.  Pierre Trudeau was born on October 18, 1919 in Montréal, Quebec. His terms of office were from April 20, 1968 to June 3, 1979 as well as March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984. Pierre Trudeau had been a Liberal political party leader from 1968–1984.

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295 Words | 2 Pages

After finding some torture tactics, it helped me research about the negative effects of torture. In his article, “Torture is a Crime”, Curt Goering listed the negative effects of torture. He argues that torture is illegal, ineffective, immoral and makes those around us unsafe. Curt uses ethos in his piece to back up his main argument. For example, he mentions that in 1984, the UN adopted the Convention against torture and it was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1990.

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515 Words | 3 Pages

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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1579 Words | 7 Pages

It is very difficult to get dangerous people to talk, so we use dangerous methods to get them to talk. Getting all the information from prisoners, terrorists, gangsters, and mobsters held by the CIA is crucial to saving American lives. After the Boston Marathon bombing one of the suspects escaped from the scene and the other was caught by police, the one that was held by the CIA was tortured until he spoke of his brother’s hideout where police shot and killed the terrorist. Without torture there would still be a terrorist running free on the streets of Boston. In 2011 the CIA

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971 Words | 4 Pages

The author believes that the thoughts of enlightened societies are unwise and ascertains that there are situations whereby torture becomes morally mandatory in dealing with terrorists.

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1611 Words | 7 Pages

By breaking their superiors through psychological manipulation, young officers gained a sense of their society’s plasticity, creating an illusion that they could destroy and remodel the social order at will. (mccoy chapter 3). Th explicitness of the CIA’s torture training was finally exposed to public scrutiny eight years after the cold war’s end. Yet despite this, the CIA suffered no repercussions. “Citizens and civic groups remained silent, editorials didn’t call for an investigation, there was no pressure pressed on them to repudiate or reform the techniques revealed in the torture training model.”

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1050 Words | 5 Pages

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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742 Words | 3 Pages

In the face of terrorism, one of the most pressing moral issues is the use of torture as a means of extracting information. The essay, “The Case for Torture”, by philosopher Michael Levin, is a persuasive piece about the morality and validity of torture in dire situations. To persuade readers of his opinion, the writer incorporates a formal vocabulary to elevate his argument, an informal point of view to redirect readers’ moral compass, and an informal and formal tone to strip terrorists of their rights. Throughout his essay, Levin uses a formal vocabulary to give himself authority on speaking about a controversial topic such as torture. As most western democracies, the writer’s audience, outright ban torture and regard it as cruel, Levin

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

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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962 Words | 4 Pages

08 Feb. 2016. This source explains that torture is actually one of the last methods used when they are interrogating someone since many know that it has a very low success rate. If the person is not willing to cooperate, they go down a list. Many people thought to use the top methods as they are not as immoral. Getting to the end of the list thought means they have nothing else to make the person talk which is why they use

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1070 Words | 5 Pages

In this text by Paul Lauritzen he spoke of ways we can torture a possible enemy of the country in a way that would not strip them of their basic human rights or that would alter their conception of reality, in order to get the information needed from them to save countless lives. Now I know that sounds petrifying, but as soon as you really get into the reading you'll understand why it's utterly captivating. Now let's get down to business, Paul gave many different definitions to dignity, he wanted to discover what dignity is exactly, he said that one of the forms of torture that strip a person of their dignity is when you make their life so horrible that they just don't want to live anymore. Another one was that dignity is the same as autonomy,

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1082 Words | 5 Pages

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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