Tourture Or Not To Tourture Essay Example for Free

Tourture Or Not To Tourture Essay The case presented points out a terrorist that has entrenched bombs in several places of the city. He is not ready to reveal the positions of the bombs that he has planted. These bombs well explode shortly being a cause of the death of many innocent lives. The terrorists is not willing to disclose the where he has implanted the bombs using any of the standard procedures. The last option the authorities think is left is torturing the terrorist blameless wife. The authorities think using torture will be an appropriate solution to make the terrorist disclose the location of the concealed bombs. The scenario presented is incredibly sensitive one; taking any decision regarding this case seems morally incorrect. Due to the blast, if innocent people are killed without any reason that seems immoral. While if the blameless wife of the terrorist is tormented for no apparent reason that also seems unethical. Still if I had to make a decision, I would agree with the authorities to torture the wife of the terrorist. As I believe saving the lives of hundreds of people is more essential rather than doing injustice a single person. Although torturing seems an unethical tactic to use but the outcome that will be generated will be that the lives of hundreds will be saved. If we focus our attention on the results, the agony of one individual does not seem such a ghastly alternative to choose. The decision taken is falling in line with doing evil but for a noble cause. This preference is based on the utilitarian approach which is associated with providing with the The greatest happiness for the greatest number It talks about those ideas that should be adopted which leads to the betterment for the maximum number of citizens. In the utilitarian approach the appropriateness of the decision is determined by the outcome. You can use morally incorrect ways in this approach, as long as the outcome of the idea is righteous. It is summarized as â€Å"the ends justify the means for a decision† in the deontological approach the ethical law is provided the greatest weight as apposed to the consequences of the outcome which is the case in utilitarian. This ethical philosophy cannot be applicable in all cases as diverse cases have to be dealt in a distinctive fashion. (Wikipedia) Lets consider another case if ten people were traveling in a boat and due to the boat being over loaded it was sinking. If some weight was removed from the boat, that is if two people were thrown out of the boat, the boat would be prevented from sinking. Considering the utilitarian approach, it suggests that we should choose the alternative of throwing two peolple out of the boat. It gives its justification on the basis it is better to save the lives of eight people rather to leave them all to die. Although it seems morally incorrect to do this but the outcome is better for the majority of people. Utilitarianism has a very elevated ethical opinion; it supports the contentment of all, even if an individual has to pay for it.   An appropriate case in point was pointed out by Jonathon Glover is that even if a person has a lot of money and with that he can go on a tour to Europe. But the utilitarian approach suggests the â€Å"greatest good for the greatest people† hence instead of that person going on a tour he will donate the money for charity to help the greatest number of people. (â€Å"Utilitarianism and its critics† by Jonathon Glover.) Similarly in this case it is morally objectionable to make the terrorist’s wife to suffer, but a crucial step to take. Since not taking this step will lead to a disaster of hundreds being murdered, this seems morally disgusting. So the success will be in following the utilitarian approach in which most horrible scenario can be avoided. If we do not torment one person and let hundreds being killed as a result that seems a much dreadful end result than torturing one person in order to save the lives of hundreds. Hence the torturing of one person can be justified in this case as that is the only way the terrorist will reveal the exact location of the bombs and the innocent public can be saved from being ruthlessly slaughtered. The utilitarian philosophy emphasizes on accepting the least terrible proposal in comparison with the worst proposal, which is being followed in the cases mentioned above. Reference: Bentham, Jeremy (2007). The Classical Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill. Hackett Publishing Company.