Research Catalog

Title

Torture : a collection / edited by Sanford Levinson ; [with a foreword by Ariel Dorfman ; with two new essays by Charles Krauthammer, Andrew Sullivan].

Publication

New York ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Levinson, Sanford, 1941-

Description

vi, 342 p. : ill ; 24 cm.

Summary

Torture is perhaps the most unequivocally banned practice in the world today. Yet within six weeks after September 11, articles began appearing suggesting that torture might be "required" in order to interrogate suspected terrorists about future possibilities of violence. The United States and some of its allies are using methods of questioning relating to the war on terrorism that could be described as torture or, at the very least, as inhuman and degrading. It is known that the United States sent some suspected terrorists to allied countries that are well known to engage in torture. And in terror's wake, the use of such methods, at least under some conditions, has gained some prominent defenders. Torture: A Collection brings together leading lawyers, political theorists, social scientists, and public intellectuals to debate the advisability of maintaining the absolute ban on torture and to reflect on what it says about our societies if we do--or do not--adhere to it in all circumstances. One important question is how we define torture at all. Are "cruel and inhumane" practices that result in profound physical or mental discomfort tolerable so long as they do not meet some definition of "torture"? And how much "transparency" do we really want with regard to interrogation practices? Is "don't ask, don't tell" an acceptable response to those who concern themselves about these practices? Addressing these questions and more, this book tackles one of the most controversial issues that we face today. The noted contributors include noted Ariel Dorfman, Elaine Scarry, Alan Dershowitz, Judge Richard Posner, Michael Walzer, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and other lawyers from both the United States and abroad.

Subjects

• Political prisoners > Legal status, laws, etc
• Human rights
• Torture > Moral and ethical aspects

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Foreword : The tyranny of terror : is torture inevitable in our century and beyond? / Ariel Dorfman -- Contemplating torture : an introduction / Sanford Levinson -- Torture / Henry Shue -- Political action : the problem of dirty hands / Michael Walzer -- Reflection on the problem of "dirty hands" / Jean Bethke Elshtain -- The legal history of torture / John H. Langbein -- American interrogation : from torture to trickery / Jerome H. Skolnick -- The mental state of torturers : Argentina's dirty war / Mark Osiel -- Escalation and necessity : defining torture at home and abroad / John T. Parry -- Judgment concerning the legality of the general security service's interrogation methods / Supreme Court of Israel -- Can the war against terror justify the use of force in interrogations? Reflections in the light of the Israeli experience / Miriam Gur-Arye -- The promise and limits of the international law of torture / Oona A. Hathaway -- The European convention on human rights and its prohibition on torture / Fionnuala Ní Aoiláin -- The prohibition on torture and the limits of the law / Oren Gross -- Tortured reasoning / Alan Dershowitz -- Five errors in the reasoning of Alan Dershowitz / Elaine Scarry -- Torture, terrorism, and interrogation / Richard A. Posner -- Loose professionalism, or why lawyers take the lead on torture / Richard H. Weisberg -- The truth about torture / Charles Krauthammer -- The abolition of torture / Andrew Sullivan.

ISBN

9780195306460 (pbk.)

OCLC

• 69732427
• SCSB-10073991

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library