This book reframes the historical, legal and moral discourse on the question of whether torture can be justified in exceptional circumstances.

We are understandably reluctant to "rank" moral atrocities. What is worse, genocide or terrorism? In this book, Thomas W. Simon argues that politicians use this to manipulate our sense of injustice by exaggerating terrorism and minimizing torture. He advocates for an international criminal code that encourages humanitarian intervention.

Torture doctors invent and oversee techniques to inflict pain and suffering without leaving scars. Their knowledge of the body and its breaking points and their credible authority over death certificates and medical records make them powerful and elusive perpetrators of the crime of torture. In The Torture Doctors, Steven H. Miles fearlessly explores who these physicians are, what they do, how they escape justice, and what can be done to hold them accountable. At least one hundred countries employ torture doctors, including both dictatorships and democracies. While torture doctors mostly act with impunity—protected by governments, medical associations, and licensing boards—Miles shows that a movement has begun to hold these doctors accountable and to return them to their proper role as promoters of health and human rights. Miles’s groundbreaking portrayal exposes the thinking and psychology of these doctors, and his investigation points to how the international human rights community and the medical community can come together to end these atrocities.

Torture has recently been the subject of some sensational headlines. As a result, there has been a huge surge in interest in the ethical implications of this contentious issue. The Ethics of Torture offers the first complete introduction to the philosophical debates surrounding torture. The book asks key questions in light of recent events such as the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib. What makes torture morally reprehensible? Are there any conditions under which torture is acceptable? What is it like to be tortured, and why do people engage in torture? The authors argue that the force of the most common arguments for torture (like the ticking-bomb argument) are significantly overestimated, while the wrongness of torture has been significantly underestimated-even by those who argue against it. This is the ideal introduction to the ethics of torture for students of moral philosophy or political theory. It also constitutes a significant contribution to the torture debate in its own right, presenting a unique approach to investigating this dark practice.

INTRODUCTION Paolo Di Lucia and Lorenzo Passerini Glazel, Introduction. Veritas in Dicto, Veritas in Re Amedeo Giovanni Conte, Three Paradigms for a Philosophy of the True: Apophantic Truth, Eidological Truth, Idiological Truth SECTION I. Truth of Language (De Dicto Truth) vs. Truth of Things (De Re Truth) Roberta De Monticelli, Ockham's Razor, or the Murder of Concreteness. A Vindication of the Unitarian Tradition Richard Davies, Monadic Truth and Falsity Stefano Caputo, One but not the Same Paolo Heritier, True God and True Man: Some Implications SECTION II. Truth of Things and the Normative and Axiological Dimensions of Reality Anna Donise, A Stratified Theory of Value Venanzio Raspa, On Emotional Truth Sergei Talanker, No True Persuasive Definition Marginalizes? Carlos Morujão, Subjective Meanings and Normative Values in Alfred Schutz's Philosophy of Human Action SECTION III. Truth, Validity, and Normativity Pedro M. S. Alves, A Phenomenological Analysis of the Nomothetic Noema. Discussing the De Dicto and De Re Formulations of Normative Sentences Wojciech Żełaniec, Things We Must Never Do (If Any) Sara Papic, Can Linguistic Correctness Provide Us with Categorical Semantic Norms? Virginia Presi, Custom in Action. Ferdinand Tönnies' Ontology of the Normative SECTION IV. Truth and Validity in Action: Norm Effectiveness and Nomotropic Behaviour Pascal Richard, Norms as "Intentional Systems" Alba Lojo, The Semantic Conception of Efficacy and Constitutive Rules: Mapping a Tough Relationship Giovanni Bombelli, Normativity, Truth, Validity and Effectiveness. Remarks Starting from the Horizon of the "Common Sense" SECTION V. Further Contributions Caterina Del Sordo and Roberta Lanfredini, Matter at a Crossroads: Givenness vs Forceful Quality Stefano Colloca, On the Deontic Validity of the General Exclusive Norm Alessandro Volpe, Doing Justice to Solidarity: On the Moral Role of Mutual Support