Today, we talked about a situation where we may have to use torture in order to save people who are in a building with a bomb. The bomber have the code to keep the bomb from going off. We have the options to torture the code out of him or try to convince him to stop the whole thing. Trying to convince him may take a lot of time and the bomber may be stubborn and not listen to anything. However, if we torture him our actions would be immoral and he can give us the wrong code. So, we are stuck trying to decide what options to pick in this situation.
I think that the best options depend of the situation. If the bomb is timed and we don't have much time, we may have to try torturing and take our chances if the code he give us is the right one or not, rather than letting the bomb go off and have no chances of saving the people. While some people, like Kant would never try torturing and rather come up with other ways to deal with, they usually won't have time to consider their options in situations like this. During the discussion, we found out that one of the main problem for deciding the best actions is we don't have time to think of a best action. Because of this, we have to do what we have to do in certain situations. However, if the situation allows time, we may take other paths such as trying to convince the person or coming up with the best action.
I remember this discussion and I think threatening, or committing a crime of violence in order to stop another crime of murder is irrational and immoral. However I understand that whether you choose to torture or negotiate with the person that has the code to a ticking bomb, inside of a building full of people, that you would only be taking a risk on what it is you think is rational in order to do what is that justifies Utilitarianism and based on one of Kant's categorical imperative formulations, he would not torture this person with the code that has a ticking bomb because it is unfair to treat people like that.
ReplyDeleteI don't think torturing a person would solve anything because it not right to cause harm to other even thought they maybe causing harm to others. This is not the solution to anything. You will not get anything out torturing a person, you can not make anyone change there mind about the things they do. Most people when they have they mind set on something there is no changing their decision.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely consider the possibility of trying to convince him before I try to torture the guy. We could be tactic and find out the reason why he is doing what he is doing. Torturing him could lead to many unexpected scenarios that could end up real bad (the bomb exploring).
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