A Timeless Debate
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3 word format
document in English
humanities/philosophy
school essay
published 02/10/2007
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level : General public
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SummaryAt a lecture given at our own Stony Brook University, Michael Ratner asserts that “Justice is losing its power” . What Michael Ratner, the defending lawyer for many prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, means by this daring statement is that America is losing sight of its foundations. He can witness first hand the escalating debate about torture, so central in today’s media, and concludes that we are retreating back to the times before our very own constitution was drafted, back to the times before the Magna Carta. Even though we have established laws, people in such places as Guantanamo, as long as they are claimed as “prisoners of war” are neglected the right of due process and many other civil rights, standard for human beings. It is such accusations that fuel this very debate about the rights a government and its agencies have over their prisoners during wartime. For better answers to such an intricate question one could turn to philosophers, particularly the more contemporary ones that have ethical views on the matter. Two such philosophers are Immanuel Kant and Augustine, one from Germany the other from the Roman Empire.
Table of Contents
- At a lecture given at our own Stony Brook University, Michael Ratner asserts that 'Justice is losing its power? .
- Augustine, the fifth century philosopher, and a very important figure in modern Christian and western thought, gives many answers on what man should do with his god given free will. Augustine claims that evil is not derived from the moral judgments of man
- At first glance it seems that Augustine is contradicting himself when he says 'justice is giving each his due' putting forth a very retributive view of punishment, and then saying that an innocent person could be tortured for the benefit of society
- Thirteen centuries later, in an era of radical and daring philosophies, Immanuel Kant also concluded that torture is an unacceptable form of punishment.
- Going back to Kant's idea of categorical imperative, it would become clear that if a soldier decided to torture a terrorist, he would be implying that such behavior would be acceptable as a standard in society.
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