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
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
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