Genocide Project

This paper, Confronting Torture, is a multidisciplinary collection of essays examining the ethics, legality, history, and psychology of torture in the modern world.

Part I: A Triumph over Torture, Told by a Survivor

• Chapter 1: Albie Sachs, a torture survivor and former justice, recounts his experiences with state terrorism and solitary confinement in apartheid South Africa. He argues against the “cost-benefit” analysis of torture, advocating instead for the “soft vengeance” of justice and the rule of law.

Part II: Psychological Perspectives on Torture

• Chapter 2: William Gorman and Sandra Zakowski explore the long-term psychic and existential wounds inflicted on victims, the challenges of rehabilitation, and the resilience shown by survivors. They also discuss the controversial role of some psychologists in designing “enhanced interrogation” techniques.
• Chapter 3: Nancy Sherman evaluates Stoic equanimity as a potential psychological armor for enduring torture. She concludes that while Stoicism emphasizes internal virtue over bodily pain, it may not be a fully plausible strategy in the face of the systematic self-betrayal and shame that torture aims to induce.
• Chapter 4: Mary Anne Case analyzes how the U.S. military utilized gendered performance and sexual humiliation—often modeled after its own internal hazing rituals—to degrade male detainees in the “war on terror”.

Part III: Torture in Historical Context

• Chapter 5: Kathleen Coleman examines torture in ancient Rome, where its use was primarily a function of social status, specifically targeting slaves and later plebeians to extract evidence or prove guilt.
• Chapter 6: Christopher Einolf provides a historical perspective on U.S. use of torture, noting it has typically occurred in counterinsurgency conflicts (like Vietnam or the Philippine-American War) where the enemy was “delegitimized” and viewed as an illegitimate combatant.
• Chapter 7: Richard Leo and Alexa Koenig trace the history of the “third degree” in American domestic policing, drawing parallels between these early 20th-century coercive methods and post-9/11 intelligence interrogations.

Part IV: The Ethics of Torture

• Chapter 8: Marcia Baron critiques the “ticking bomb” hypothetical, arguing it is a dangerously misleading scenario that fails to account for the reality that torture is an unreliable intelligence tool and difficult to contain as a one-time event.
• Chapter 9: Jeff McMahan challenges absolute moral prohibitions on torture through philosophical thought experiments. While arguing torture could theoretically be justified in rare defensive scenarios, he supports an exceptionless legal ban to prevent the human tendency toward cruelty.
• Chapter 10: David Sussman examines torture through the lens of “dirty fighting” and its impact on the possibility of future moral reconciliation between parties.
• Chapter 11: Scott Anderson defends an absolute prohibition on torture in war based on the “principle of distinction,” which protects those who are captured and thus “out of the fight”.

Part V: Torture in US Law and Policy

• Chapter 12: Jeremy Waldron discusses torture and positive law, arguing the prohibition on torture acts as a “legal archetype” that characterizes the entire spirit of a non-brutal legal system.
• Chapter 13: Lisa Hajjar defends “lawfare”—the use of litigation to challenge torture—as a necessary means to uphold universal norms and create a historical record of official wrongdoing.
• Chapter 14: Garrett Ordower addresses the legal difficulties in holding private military contractors accountable for crimes committed overseas, arguing for a more articulated legal regime to prevent “tortured prosecutions”.

The book Confronting Torture, edited by Scott A. Anderson and Martha C. Nussbaum, is a multidisciplinary collection of essays that provides a comprehensive analysis of torture through the lenses of history, psychology, law, philosophy, and personal experience.

Core Themes and Analytical Perspectives

The collection is structured into five parts, each addressing distinct aspects of the practice and its implications:

• A Survivor’s Perspective: The book begins with a firsthand account from Albie Sachs, a torture survivor and former justice on South Africa’s Constitutional Court. He emphasizes the “soft vengeance” of justice and the rule of law over reciprocal brutality.
• Psychological Impact and Perpetration: Contributors examine the deep-seated psychological wounds of victims and the mechanisms of resilience and recovery. This section also analyzes the psychological processes that allow ordinary individuals to become torturers, often involving dehumanization and situational obedience. It further explores the controversial involvement of the American Psychological Association in designing “enhanced” interrogation techniques.
• Historical and Institutional Context: The book traces the use of torture from ancient Rome, where it was intrinsically linked to social status and slavery, to American domestic policing (the “third degree”) and counterinsurgency wars like Vietnam and the Philippine-American War. It highlights that US torture has historically occurred when the enemy is “delegitimized” or viewed as an illegitimate combatant.
• Ethical and Moral Debates: Philosophers critique common justifications like the “ticking bomb” hypothetical, arguing such scenarios are often unrealistic and distract from the reality that torture is an unreliable intelligence tool that inevitably spreads once permitted. Other contributors explore torture through the principles of just war, self-defense, and the moral impediments it creates for future reconciliation.
• Legal Challenges and Accountability: The final section addresses the “legal archetypes” of non-brutality in the US system and the use of “lawfare”—litigation as a means to challenge illegal state policies and create a historical record of official wrongdoing. It also examines the legal difficulties in holding private military contractors accountable for crimes committed abroad.

Primary Inquiries

The book aims to deepen understanding by addressing five central questions:

1. How should the impetus to use torture be understood?
2. Why is torture considered a particularly heinous means of war-fighting?
3. Are there any sound moral or practical justifications for its use?
4. How does the employment of torture affect the societies that use it?
5. What ethical or political bulwarks can be developed to prevent its use?