Deontologism is an approach which seeks to create universal rules for the morality of human action; its ideas of common humanity and fundamental human rights were very influential in the banning of torture. This point of view lies on the belief that there are some inherent rights that every person is supposed to enjoy simply based on his existence. It is based on ethics and morality. The very crux of this perspective is that every human being has some rights, and these rights cannot be compromised with in any situation – not even when the person has committed the most heinous acts possible. These rights include the right to not be inflicted any harm or suffering, either physical or mental. Thus, the deontological perspective is heavily founded on the concept of morality and human dignity. Immanuel Kant was a strong supporter of this view. Hence, the deontological perspective is also known as the Kantian perspective.
The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as well as The Geneva Convention, 1949’s stand against torture are examples of adoption of the Kantian principles against torture. They
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It is wrong, self-defeating and poisons the rule of law, replacing it with terror and no one is safe when governments allow its use. 155 countries have ratified the UN Convention Against Torture. Between January 2009 and May 2013, Amnesty International received reports of torture and other ill-treatment committed by state officials in 141 countries, and from every world region. It can be seen from this report that torture is being practiced everywhere in the world and instead of such cases receding, they are on the rise now. Even International Law takes the Kantian view in the case of torture and forbids using it at all costs. All the four Geneva Conventions have recognised torture as a war crime and all the states have ratified
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.
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.
Pro-CIA Torture To begin, the US and it’s central intelligence agency, also known as the CIA are torturing captives, and it’s up for debate. The US should allow the CIA to torture its prisoners. It’s a way to get very valuable information from them. The torture techniques leave no marks or traces left behind on the victim. It strikes fear in the to be tortured prisoners so that they make talk before the CIA even lays a finger on them.
The Case for Torture Wins Torture is it morally acceptable? Many have debated this argument but I would like to bring up two main conflicting view points from Michael Levin, and Marzieh Ghisai. Michael Levin is a Jewish law professor who wrote The Case for Torture where he advocates where torture is acceptable in some circumstances.
Many people might think that torture is cruel, unacceptable and it does not show humanity. In contrast, Michael Levin says that implementing torture is needed to prevent future evil acts. In “The Case for Torture”, Michael Levin also makes it clear that there are situations in which torture is not merely acceptable but morally necessary. Levin argues that implementing torture to save people lives is morally right and reasonable. Levin’s purpose of his text is to let people know that there are times when torture becomes an option to save and protect innocent lives.
“Authorizing torture is a bad and dangerous idea that can easily be made to sound plausible.” This is a shockingly true statement. Heymann’s purpose in writing this article is to persuade readers to agree with him that torture should not be authorized. Heymann uses the persuasive appeal of pathos primarily in this article to convince his readers to agree with him. Although that is not to say he did not use other forms of persuasive appeal, heymann also used Logos and Ethos, just not as strongly as Pathos.
Most importantly, article five directly states, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The act of torture has some pros and cons, but will be better for every nation in the end. The first reason is because the information we can obtain in this way will be amazingly, extremely helpful. In the article “Is Torture Ever Justified,” they speak of the fact “There is little difference between a man on the verge of shooting innocent civilians and a man that retains and withholds
Deontology which is derived from the Greek words Deon (meaning obligation/duty) and logia (science/study) combined to be also known as duty or rule-based ethics or the study of duties or obligations. It is a branch of ethical theories that deals with ethics of conduct, which theories are based on the sort of actions people must perform. It is based on non-consequentialism where the ends do not justify the means and thus deontology is an approach to ethics in which a sense of duty or principle prescribes the ethical decision (Preston, 2007). Deontology affirms duties must be obeyed regardless of the consequences. The theory of Deontology has its flaws as well and this essay will present three criticisms of deontology namely that deontology relies on moral absolutes, allows acts that make the world a worse place, two permissible duties that are right can conflict with each other and will demonstrate these flaws with relevant case studies and dilemmas.
In Michael Levin's The Case for Torture, Levin provides an argument in which he discusses the significance of inflicting torture to perpetrators as a way of punishment. In his argument, he dispenses a critical approach into what he believes justifies torture in certain situations. Torture is assumed to be banned in our culture and the thought of it takes society back to the brutal ages. He argues that societies that are enlightened reject torture and the authoritative figure that engage in its application risk the displeasure of the United States. In his perspective, he provides instances in which wrongdoers put the lives of innocent people at risk and discusses the aspect of death and idealism.
Torture treats the victim as a means to an end and not an end in themselves (BBC Ethics of torture). Torturing is used to destroy dignity of the victim. A few societies have used torment to change people to ‘right-thinking’. Torture is illegal under international law. It is inhuman and morally wrong.
According the Third Geneva Convention and the U.N. Covenant they say they believe torture to be "effective". “The codes are based on the hard-headed calculation that by agreeing not to torture non-combatants, nations can reduce the probability of their own non-combatants being tortured." The Geneva Convention and the U.N Covenant is against torture. They are saying that torturing is a insensible. Also they are saying that when someone tortures in their country, there is a higher chance that other people are going to torture.
The convention rules are not applicable to terrorists and spies. The rules and guidelines of The Convention against Torture apply only on a member country's own soil. This is the explanation as to why torturing of terror suspects and prisoners is applicable and legally acceptable in Guantanamo Bay (White, 2009). In other typical scenarios, other than an example of a TTB (Ticking time bomb), It is right and acceptable to torture a terrorist suspect because the risks that one single terrorist puts the lives of very may people is too big to be ignored.
In this essay, I compared Utilitarianism and Deontology, and argued that Deontology is a better ethics system than Utilitarianism because, while Utilitarianism focuses solely on results, Deontology considers humans as more than just a means to an end and provides for a system of generally accepted
The theory of deontology states we are morally obligated to act in accordance with obvious set of principles and rules regardless of results. Deontological ethics focuses on duties, and rights. The term deontological was coined by the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, who described it as “knowledge of what is right or proper” Bentham thought that deontology points in the direction of principle of utility. But contemporary philosophers use the term deontological to indicate a contrast with the utilitarian focus on the consequences of action. Instead of focusing on consequences, deontological ethics focus on duties and obligation: things we ought to do regardless of the consequences.