MORAL PERCEPTION OF TORTURE

Introduction

There different things that people do, many of which they do not agree with each other.
Most of them are to do with the life of other human beings. The issue on torture has had debates
where progressives have different beliefs from the conservatives based on their morality beliefs.
Based on Haidt’s theory of six moral foundations, this paper examines the moral division
between the progressives and the conservatives and their stand on the torture debate.

Torture

Torture is any act that intentionally inflicts severe suffering or pain, whether mentally or
physically on a person for purposes such as obtaining a confession or information from him or
from a third person by punishing him for an act the third person or that which he committed or is
suspected to have committed. It can also be referred to as the coercion or intimidation of that
individual for any reason that is based on any kind of discrimination. Torture may be
administered by beating, stretching, suffocating, raping, electrically shocking, submersing,
burning or sexually assaulting the individual. Isolation, humiliation, mock amputations, threats,
mock executions and witnessing of others being tortured are also psychological ways of
administering torture (Werpehowski, 2009).
Torture is a concept that is slippery. For example, it extends from the general punishment
but it is believed that there is a line where it crosses from being a general punishment. The
controversy sets in when there is a difference among people on what constitutes a severe
suffering or pain. People also hold debates on what is acceptable torture and that which is not
acceptable. Torture becomes a moral issue because of the various perspectives it can be viewed

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from. The one being tortured does not enjoy a good time, but what if his suffering alleviates the
pain of others? For example, if a terrorist is captured, there is a moral question as to whether
torturing him almost to death is worth for them to give details of the plans the fellow terrorists
have and whether it could save the residents.
There is a divergent view on the ethicality and usefulness of torture. For example, in the
case of a terrorist, some people argue that torture make the terrorist give information that can
save people from future attacks. Others support the ethicality of torture arguing that the terrorists
deserve the punishment because of the deaths they have caused on others. However, they is a
group that believes that it is not ethically right to torture individuals because they give out false
information in order to save themselves (Werpehowski, 2009).
Conservatism versus Progressivism

Conservatism is the political desire/philosophy to preserve traditions and institutions
when there are external forces of change. The institutions and traditions represents the cultural,
nationally-defined or religious customs and beliefs. Conservatism is critical of proposals for
social change that is radical. Some conservatives look for ways of preserving the status quo or
reforming the society slowly while others want to return to values that were available previously.
Progressivism is the believe that progress, individuality and change are important to an
individual (Kidwell, Farmer and Hardesty, 2013).
The progressivisms and conservatisms have various characteristics that can be presented
by what they believe. The progressivism believe that torture should not exist and it should not be
used. They think that it is inhumane, unusual and cruel punishment. They argue that there could
be other ways of trying to get the information that interrogators seek to find by torturing the

MORAL PERCEPTION OF TORTURE 4
humans. Some of the individuals are innocent human beings and the progressivism argues that
the life of that innocent individual risks to be lost. The conservatism believe that torture is
appropriate and sometimes serves as punishment for the killings that have been committed
previously. In the United States, the progressivisms represent the liberals and republicans while
conservatisms represent the conservatives.
According to Goldman and Craighill (2014), the largest majority of individuals believe
that torture is ethically right. For example, the polls that were taken on 2014 found out that 59
percent of the Americans supported the tortures used by the CIA and the different technics they
used on the terrorism suspects after Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Only 31 % thought that that it was
wrong to use torture on those individuals.

Progressive’s Moral foundations

Haidt’s Theory of Six Moral Foundations
Jonathan Haidt together with his colleagues came up with a proposal that humans have
six different regions of moral concern which include care, liberty, authority, fairness, loyalty and
purity. Their argument is that cultures as well as individuals differ on their definition as well as
value of these six regions that they named foundations. For instance, the Westerners do not give
weight on care, fairness and liberty; the conservatives in the US care about all the six while the
liberals are only concerned about care, liberty and fairness (Suhler and Churchland, 2011).
Care is the provision of anything that is necessary for welfare, maintenance, health and
protection of something or someone. According to Haidt, this foundation was triggered by
distress and sufferings of adults, children and animals. Morally, compassion is the emotion that
is related to care. Individuals that care believe that torture is ethically wrong because the one

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doing the torture does not provide what is necessary to the individual he is torturing but instead
harms him.
Fairness is the quality where an individual makes judgements which are free from
discriminations. It has been believed that umpires, judges and teachers are fair individuals and
they should always strive to practice fairness. Ethically, this foundation reflects a principle that
individuals are not supposed to get the benefits that they do not deserve if they did not contribute
to some success. On the basis of fairness, it is not ethical to torture an individual if they are just
suspects (Musschenga, 2013).
Liberty is the state where an individual is free within the society from restrictions that
may be imposed by the authority on an individual’s behavior, political views or way of life. This
is a foundation where there are feelings of resentment and reactance towards those who dominate
and restrict the liberty of others. It is considered immoral that there are people who do not like
others enjoying freedom. According to this foundation, it is considered immoral to torture an
individual because his freedom is taken away (Musschenga, 2013).
Conservative’s Moral Foundations
Loyalty is the strong feeling of allegiance or support. It is believed that human beings
have some form of tribalism within them. This means that they are loyal and they love people on
their teams. Haidt came up with this foundation arguing that even though humans are tribal, they
can shift coalitions. People consider it morally right for an individual to be loyal (Musschenga,
2013). When an individual betrays a group, most conservatives believe that they can be it is
ethical to punish that person through torture.

MORAL PERCEPTION OF TORTURE 6
Authority is the power delegated formally to an individual and gives them the right to
commit resources, command situations and give out orders. Individuals in authority expect the
others to obey them. Authority is very important in the moral considerations of the society
because it fends off chaos and protects order. Haidt stated that every person should support order
that is in existence and should hold each one responsible for fulfilling these obligations
(Musschenga, 2013). It is therefore considered ethical when one is tortured because of not
fulfilling this responsibility.
Sanctity is the description of anything that is holy, sacred, inviolability and saintless.
Sanctity was made from the psychology of contamination and disgust. People have certain things
that are untouchable because they are polluted and dirty but they require protection of what is
sacred and hallowed (Musschenga, 2013). In this case, any individual that wants to contaminate
and make the sacred things dirty can be tortured as a form of punishment. People consider this
type of torture moral.

Tripartite theory of ethics (Shweder)

Ethic of autonomy is established on the fact that people are autonomous with needs,
wants and preferences. People should therefore be free to satisfy them in a manner they see it fit.
This makes societies to develop concepts of morality such as liberty, rights and justice that allow
people coexist in a peaceful manner that they do not interfere with the projects of the others.
Progressives emphasize on the ethnic of autonomy and argue that no one interferes with the
other, meaning that they do not support torture (Shweder, Much, Mahapatra and Park, n.d.).
Ethic of community is established on the fact that people are members of families,
armies, tribes, teams, companies and nations. This ethic makes an argument that all these entities

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need to be protected and that individuals should play the roles that have been assigned to them.
This has made people to develop moral concepts of duty, respect, patriotism, hierarchy and
reputation. The conservatives emphasize on this and they support that people should be tortured
if they do not take up their roles.
Ethic of divinity is established on the fact that people are temporary vessels where divine
souls have been implanted in them. They should therefore not make the bodies a playground to
contaminate it. The conservatives emphasize on this and support the fact that if an individual
does something that degrades him, such as having sex with a carcass chicken, they should be
tortured (Shweder, Much, Mahapatra and Park, n.d.).
In conclusion torture inflicts pain and suffering from individuals as they are forced to
produce certain information. Different people have different views on the morality of torture.
Based on Haidt’s Theory of Six Moral Foundations, the progressives emphasize on liberty, care
and fairness as well as the ethic of autonomy and argue against torture. They believe that torture
is immoral. However, the conservatives emphasize on loyalty, sanctity, authority, ethic of
community and divinity and argue that any individual that goes against them needs to be
punished even by use of torture. They believe that torture is morally right.

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References

Goldman, A., & Craighill, P. (2016). New poll finds majority of Americans think torture was
justified after 9/11 attacks. The Washington Post. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-poll-finds-majority-of-
americans-believe-torture-justified-after-911-attacks/2014/12/16/f6ee1208-847c-11e4-
9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html
Kidwell, B., Farmer, A., & Hardesty, D. M. (2013). Getting Liberals and Conservatives to Go
Green: Political Ideology and Congruent Appeals. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(2),
350-367. doi: 10.1086/670610
Musschenga, B. (2013). The promises of moral foundations theory. Journal Of Moral Education,
42(3), 330-345.
Shweder, R., Much, N., Mahapatra, M., & Park, L. (n.d.) The Big Three of Morality (autonomy,
community, divinity) and the big three explanations of suffering.
Suhler, C. L., & Churchland, P. (2011). Can Innate, Modular “Foundations” Explain Morality?
Challenges for Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory. Journal Of Cognitive Neuroscience,
23(9), 2103-2116.
Werpehowski, W. (2009). Torture is a Moral Issue: Christians, Jews, Muslims, and People of
Conscience Speak Out. Anglican Theological Review, 91(4), 656-659