The Moral Debate About Torture

Religion & Ethics Newsweekly recently featured a debate between Dr. Jean Bethke Elshtain (Professor of Social and Political Ethics, University of Chicago Divinity School and Georgetown University) and Dr. Shaun Casey (Professor of Christian Ethics, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC) about the possibility of a moral justification for torture. The topic raises an interesting question for the study of virtues: can actions, such as hurting others, that are generally held to follow from vice sometimes become virtuous because of their context?

See the debate here.

Photo by Jayel Aheram.