Terrorism, Ticking Time-Bombs, and Torture
A Philosophical Analysis
- Contents
- Review Quotes

PART I TERRORISM
1 What is Terrorism?
1.1. Historical and Conceptual Foundations
1.2. The Intentional Use of Force
1.3. Against Noncombatants or Their Property
1.4. Intentionally Instilling Fear
1.5. For Ideological Aims
2 The Moral Status of Terrorism
2.1. Noncombatant Immunity
2.2. Supreme Emergencies
2.3. Terrorism and Counterterrorism
3 The War on Terror and the Ethics of Exceptionalism
3.1. The War on Terror
3.2. Exceptionalism
3.3. Temporal Exceptionalism
3.4. Spatial Exceptionalism
3.5. Group-Based Exceptionalism
3.6. The Ethics of Exceptionalism
PART II TORTURE AND TICKING TIME-BOMBS
4 Conceptual and Moral Foundations of Torture
4.1. What Is Torture?
4.2. Why Torture?
4.3. Why Is Torture (Intrinsically) Bad?
5 Ticking-Time-Bomb Methodology
5.1. Origins of the Ticking Time-Bomb
5.2. Intuitions and Thought Experiments
5.3. Ticking-Time-Bomb Case Variants
6 Should We Torture in Ticking-Time-Bomb Cases?
6.1. Torture and Utility
6.2. Torture and Rights
6.3. Other Moral Theories
6.4. Absolutism in Principle
6.5. Absolutism in Practice
PART III TORTURE AND THE REAL WORLD
7 Empirical Objections to Torture
7.1. Torture Doesn’t Work
7.2. Torture Requires Institutions
7.3. The Nefarious Spread of Torture
7.4. Alternatives to Torture
7.5. The Folly of Cases
7.6. Ticking-Time-Bomb Cases Redux
8 Ex Ante and Ex Post Justifications
8.1. Civil Disobedience
8.2. Torture Warrants
8.3. Self-Defense
8.4. The Necessity Defense
9 The Limits of Torture
9.1. Torture Is Not a Panacea
9.2. How Far Should We Go?
9.3. Final Remarks
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Philosophy: Ethics | General Philosophy
Political Science: Political and Social Theory
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