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Torture and Ethics
Torture is an act that involves exposing people to violence or pain with an aim of acquiring information from them or forcing them to do something. Many of the tortures involve inflicting pain on people’s bodies with hope that they will give in to the demands of the torturer. As such, the act begs the question as to whether it is ethical or unethical in nature. Torture is a mode of persuasion using pain as the enticing factor. It is common in combat where fighting parties try to capture and inflict pain on each other to attain crucial information concerning the enemy. For instance, soldiers fighting against terrorists may capture and torture the high-value targets to ascertain the position of their leaders. The end is indeed justified because such cases provide information concerning enemies that should be eliminated, but the means of attaining such information seem questionable (BBC Web).
Most occurrences that drive torture involve capturing enemy combatants who possess high-valued information. Sequentially, pain is inflicted on the captives to a point where they provide the required information. It is clear that the captives are enemies that can as well bring harm to the captors (BBC Web). Therefore, the torturers view the situation as taking the captives first before they do it. However, there is an ethnic concern, whether torture is necessary or enemies have a right and can avoid undergoing such excruciating moments. Enemies are considered as threats and are often perceived as people that deserve punishment. Indeed, most of them have records of doing bad and harmful things and probably deserve retribution, but not through torture. As such, prisons are meant to be rehabilitating centers to correct their behaviors and turn them to acceptable people in the society.
One of the leading reasons that torture stands out as the most preferable option to use in cases where the enemies are withholding vital information is that it forcefully pushes the captives to relay the details. In cases where interrogation is used, the captives may choose to keep quiet, but where torture is applied, the enemies are forced to speak, lest they suffer. Conversely, torture is unethical since the captives suffer, which is inhuman and no one has a right to inflict pain on a fellow human. Torture is wrong and ethically unjustified because it dehumanizes the captives and exposes them to situations where their bodies are used as tools and are not perceived to be part of them. Additionally, torture is not a guarantee of attaining accurate information as the captive may submit or attest to anything while in pain, which may be misleading. Thus, inhuman acts may be executed in vain, with the captive providing false information.
The American free society perceives torture as unethical and unacceptable, but several psychological theories present and explain torture and the ethical links to it in various ways. Under deontology, for instance, people are expected to adhere to their duties as expected by their superiors or the society. Their duties are perceived as ethical, and they are obligated to execute them despite other people’s perception. In this case, combatants are expected to capture enemies and retrieve information using any means possible. America is among the nations in the forefront of fighting against terrorism; hence, they have intelligence connected to their enemies. However, the information is inadequate, and they may be expected to use extra force to obtain the details about their enemies. In this case, the combatants encounter enemies on the battlefield, and they are forced to torture them in order to derive information.
Indeed, this technique derives the information, and under the deontology theory, it is the duty of the combatants to apply torture in seeking crucial details about their enemies. The supervisors expect them to acquire information from enemies either forcefully or when commanded, for example, in case of looming danger from the captives. In reference to the deontology theory of psychology and perceiving torture as an obligation, it is clear that the duty has to be executed. However, this theory is contradictory to the human nature and rights for torture violates both and promote inhumane acts despite being a duty (BBC Web).
Under the natural law theory, there are two possible perceptions on this matter, with one favoring torture while the other opposes it. The law of nature calls for reasoning among the parties after considering every part of the condition at hand. In this case, torture is the subject matter, but the people who execute it have their view on the issue, as well as the captives and the rest of society. The torturers perceive it as a necessary step to take in attaining information from the captives. In turn, this is a clear display of their reasoning, which involves forcing the information from the captives because of looming danger. Additionally, they reason that taking the captives through a normal interrogation will not be any good since they may choose to keep quiet and endanger the rest of society. As such, they have to force the enemies to furnish them with the required information.
Some people in the society under the law of nature perceive the torture matter differently from the combatants. The reasoning of many people in the society and who have never been on a battlefield or in a situation where torture needs applicability is that it is inhuman and should be discouraged. It is their understanding that torture dehumanizes the captives and inflicting pain is taking advantage of the human body. As such, activities and the like-minded people fight against torture, despite the captive being an enemy of the society.
Utilitarianism is yet another psychological theory that can explain the perception that people have towards torture. In this case, the theory views the most beneficial act as the ethically correct thing for people to execute. Hence, the action that will benefit most of the people in a situation serves as the act that people will comprehend as ethical. Torture is used to retrieve information from enemies and is used to save people from danger. Therefore, if the information retrieved will be of more benefit than if it were not shared, then utilitarianism theory considers this act as the ethical thing to do. The theory, by contrast, can support the opposite side of the aforementioned results where opposing torture would provide more benefits than executing it. If this were the case, the society would perceive torture as a wrongful act and discourage it from happening at all costs. This is an act of utilitarianism where results dictate whether an action is ethical or not. Rule utilitarianism is a theory where the law is the main determinant if an act is ethical or not. In this case, the American law prohibits torture, despite the expected information from a captive (Rainbow Web). This theory views torture as an unfair act because it is against the law and executing it is unethical because it dehumanizes the captives.
The ontological theory is one that elaborates the existence and nature of being in the world. In addition, it explains the reason of various things being in existence in the world, including torture and the reasons people execute it (Lee 31). Many people believe that torture is a way of acquiring information from people through the application of force. Consequently, this has encouraged its application over the years, and many people attaining the required information have realized the results. Such beliefs have been the fuelling factor behind torture and encouraging people to execute it since it bears the expected results. The theory seemingly supports the act when one views torture from this angle. However, it is clear that the theory also supports the objection of torture upon changing the perception. As such, some people believe that torture is a hideous act and the government should abolish it, despite its results. Thus, several people strongly believe that torture exists to hurt people and not to acquire information, which renders it useless. This perception explains the existence of activists who are against torture and fight for the victims (Rainbow Web).
Torture is an unjust act, despite various psychological theories supporting its existence. In addition, governments should avoid it and if possible ban it since it brings more harm than good. Hurting and dehumanizing people is unethical and does not help in any way, which is what torture does to the captives.
Works Cited
BBC. Torture. 2013. Web. 28 November 2013.
Lee, Steven. Intervention, Terrorism, and Torture: Contemporary Challenges to Just War Theory. Netherlands: Springer, 2006. Print.
Rainbow, Catherine. Descriptions of Ethical Theories and Principles. 2002. Web. 28 November 2013.
