Abstract
Torture became US policy after 9/11, according to this engaged addition to the growing academic literature on ethics and torture. And this fact requires of us a response: to educate ourselves about the consequences and to press for judicial accountability.
Gordon argues that the most common approaches to the ethics of torture – deontological and utilitarian – misrepresent the phenomenon as a series of isolated acts in response to moments of extremity. Instead, torture must be seen as a socially embedded institution, the product of historical processes, better grasped through a focus on the social virtues which torture deforms.
Gordon’s account of recent public debate could become a preferred resource for readers seeking quickly to appraise themselves of the arguments, particularly with an interest in arguments against acceptance of ‘torture’ in any form. After 9/11, open arguments for ‘torture-lite’ or ‘enhanced interrogation’ suddenly drew wide public support. Even so, Gordon shows how the habits of decades of defensive denial persist in the reality-defying argumentative framing of its supporters.
Gordon locates covert precedents in the practices which the CIA promoted in the years of Latin American dirty wars, and in the extent to which torture in prisons was, and is, allowed to proceed as long as it is not brought to public attention. Gordon sees the consequence as a reflexive acceptance of torture, poisoning American society at large. Gordon’s blend of the contributions of Aristotle, Aquinas, McIntyre and Amartya Sen provides reasons why these practices are not capable of sustaining American values. For Gordon, the degree to which these practices, or silence about these practices, are accepted deforms the virtues which sustain American politics and society.
The book will be useful for contexts in which readers are interested in seeing how relevant Christian teaching and abstract political theory can be to institutional life and practical politics today. Readers who are favourably disposed may find the book’s avowedly partisan approach rewarding, while sceptics may find puzzling the contention that no practice can be described without reference to ethical presuppositions. The long-term, institutional approach that Gordon finds lacking amongst ethicists can be found in much academic writing not referenced here – historical, legal and political. Such writing would give readers further insight into the political and physical reality in which modern practices of torture have developed in democratic societies as well as in dictatorships. This book is highly recommended for students, academic ethicists, and a wider engaged public.