According to utilitarian ethics, the decision on whether or not to engage in torture depends heavily on what the torture might accomplish. It if stands to save more lives later down the road, then it might have some utility and may be the right decision. If not, then it would not be favored. According to duty-based ethics, the result would not dictate the action. Rather, the inquiry would focus on whether or not torture is right as a concept.
The most likely answer is “no” under any reasonable interpretation. Virtue ethics focuses less on rules and more on virtuous living. According to this ethical system, one might suggest that torture is wrong because it is not a virtuous act. Christian-principle based ethics may suggest strongly that Jesus would not choose to torture. For that reason, a person following Christian-principle based ethics should not choose to conduct torture no matter what benefits it might have.
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"Is Torture Ever Acceptable?".
Kant’s duty-based ethics is the most appropriate ethical system to use in answering this question. According to Kant, there are certain categorical imperatives that one must adhere to in order to live an ethical life. While going off on a utilitarian rampage can cause one to justify a host of terrible actions, having a strong moral center based upon rules that are always true is a good way to ensure that the shifting tides do not take a person to a place where unethical behavior can be justified. The rule in this case would be that torture is a human rights violation and that it can never be justified. If one believes that human beings should always be treated with dignity, then one cannot justify committing acts of torture, even if there is nominally an explanation for why this might be an acceptable alternative.
- Einolf, Christopher. “The Ethics and Politics of Torture.” (2016).
- Steinhoff, Uwe. On the ethics of torture. SUNY Press, 2013.
- Vaughn, Lewis. Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton & Company, 2015.
