Philosophy Talk: When Democracies Torture | KALW

Philosophy Talk: When Democracies Torture

Nov 28, 2017

What's wrong with a little torture between sworn enemies?

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" title="<--break-->" class="wysiwyg-break drupal-content">Torture is prohibited under international law and is widely considered a human rights violation. But despite the fact that 157 countries ratified the UN Convention Against Torture, it is still practiced in many states to this day. Moreover, while we might associate torture with dictatorships, liberal democracies pioneered the modern techniques that leave no physical trace. So why do democracies torture? Can calling torture by other names, such as “enhanced interrogation,” really resolve the deep conflict between what we say and what we do? Or has the taboo against torture finally been broken? John and Ken enhance their interrogation of Darius Rejali from Reed College, author of Torture and Democracy. Sunday 11/26 at 11 am and Tuesday 11/28 at 12 noon.