ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the main arguments of the debate on the permissibility of torture within the context of human rights. The most popular utilitarian arguments that appeal to the necessity of torture are articulated around the themes of: the 'supreme emergency' state and 'necessity reasons', the 'ticking-time bomb scenario', the 'dirty hands' problem and the 'self-defence' issue. The 'dirty hands' argument considers taking decisions against moral sense as a moral duty of higher-ups. The 'ticking-time bomb scenario' is a sophisticated phantasy that contains the ingredients of the 'supreme emergency' argument – threat and imminence – disguised under the cover of a rational argument. The canonical statement of the argument of 'supreme emergency', as used in many pro-torture reasonings, can be found in the modern literature on the 'just war'. D. Rejali emphasizes that torture leads to organizational decay, because torturers tend to disobey orders and regulations.
