ABSTRACT
Much modern debate about torture has focused on the question of whether torture can ever be justified. Torture, in every serious moral treatment of the subject, is thought to be a bad thing. Some argue, however, that it may be morally permissible to practise torture because the benefits outweigh the moral costs. This places the moral requirement to treat every human being with justice, in direct competition with the responsibility of statesmen and intelligence officers to make decisions that protect their citizens (Allhoff 2003). In this chapter I will largely ignore that debate. Instead, I will focus on the ethical consequences of performing acts of torture or being subjected to torture, whether or not the actions themselves are morally justifiable.
