The problem with torture

[memegarden]

Using torture isn't a tool for beating the bad guys, it's a way to make yourself one of the bad guys. As usual, Slacktivist can be relied on for a thoughtful analysis.

Comments

[qijm]

If our only reason for not torturing or raping people was sympathy, then when faced with such a person, we might have no reason not to do whatever we liked to him or her. But sympathy is not our only reason for not torturing and raping people. There's also self-respect: the thought that whatever someone else might choose to be like, and even if that person has chosen to be Jeffrey Dahmer, there are certain things that I will not choose to do, because I do not want to be the sort of person who does them. ...

The excellent-ness of this point cannot be overstated, both in the case of government torture, and in general. It is broadly applicable to just about any area of moral reasoning. It extends the question "Why shouldn't I do (bad thing X) when I know I won't get caught" to the more broadly applicable "Why shouldn't I do (bad thing X) when I know I won't get punished even if caught." Rational ethical egoism gets a bad rap (and given some of its adherents I can certainly see why) but this insight is at its core.

[hydrolagus]

My take is that ethics grows up, with I-might-get-caught/punished, then sympathy/empathy, to identification/self-control. The more controlling a government, religious sect, or family is, the slower the members are to mature ethically, perpetuating and exacerbating the need for that top-down control.