RT Article
T1 TORTURE WARRANTS AND DEMOCRATIC STATES: Dirty Hands in an Age of Terror
JF Journal of religious ethics
VO 38
IS 1
SP 93
OP 112
A1 Lauritzen, Paul
LA English
YR 2010
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1822386918
AB In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, policy makers and others have debated the question of whether or not the United States should torture in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks. In a series of controversial essays, the legal theorist Alan Dershowitz argues that, if a democratic society is going to torture, it should at least be done under the cover of law. To that end, he recommends establishing a legal mechanism by which a judge could issue torture warrants—much as they do now for search warrants. In this essay, I examine Dershowitz's proposal in light of Michael Walzer's classic essay on dirty hands. Just as Walzer uses political theater as a lens for viewing the issue of political assassination, I similarly draw upon a dramatic response to Dershowitz's proposal to think through the issue of torture warrants.
K1 Dirty Hands
K1 political theater
K1 Political ethics
K1 Albert Camus
K1 Michael Walzer
K1 Alan Dershowitz
K1 Torture
DO 10.1111/j.1467-9795.2009.00416.x