the ticking time bomb metaphor does not work. it's not a math problem, it's not a philosophical problem, it's barely a moral problem. it's practical: there is no way to have accurate information about what someone else knows without already knowing it yourself.
you are right. without going into a much more complicated discussion of you knowing vaguely that something is happening and also somehow knowing that the person you have in your custody knows more than you do, it is not necessarily a sensical situation. but the purpose of it is to ask the question of what we are willing to do to one human being if we perceive the safety of other people to be at risk. that, i think, is still a moral problem.
it's a moral problem. can a torturer ever look in the mirror and be proud? can anyone who's watched glitter? (wierd joke, not sure where that came from) to me the crux of the argument is that you cannot draw up a reasonable scenario which justifies torture. there is no situation in which certain, lifesaving information is needed now that cannot be obtained otherwise.
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-jpz
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you are right. without going into a much more complicated discussion of you knowing vaguely that something is happening and also somehow knowing that the person you have in your custody knows more than you do, it is not necessarily a sensical situation. but the purpose of it is to ask the question of what we are willing to do to one human being if we perceive the safety of other people to be at risk. that, i think, is still a moral problem.
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to me the crux of the argument is that you cannot draw up a reasonable scenario which justifies torture. there is no situation in which certain, lifesaving information is needed now that cannot be obtained otherwise.
-jpz
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