It’s not the ‘ends justify the means’, it is a matter of stark magnitude. There are many MANY things for which pain or inconvenience can be anticipated but do not fall under the category of torture simply because it is minor. Forget about getting into the weeds of ‘how much impending pain crosses the threshold of actual torture’. We are talking about threat. of. death.
Is it unnecessarily cruel to tell the child they will be getting a shot at the doctors? Yes. “We are going to see the doctor for a check-up”. If the child asks then it is a moral dilemma to be honest vs prevent suffering by lying that I’ll leave up to the reader but until then it is best not to add to the child’s stress by voluntarily ‘taunting’ them with foreknowledge. Is it torture though? Ofc not.
In the case of prisoners you can’t apply this reduction of harm due to anticipation concept because the prisoner has a right to know otherwise it would be ‘ideal’ to just let the prisoner fall asleep one night and the button gets pressed.
It’s not the ‘ends justify the means’, it is a matter of stark magnitude. There are many MANY things for which pain or inconvenience can be anticipated but do not fall under the category of torture simply because it is minor. Forget about getting into the weeds of ‘how much impending pain crosses the threshold of actual torture’. We are talking about threat. of. death.
Is it unnecessarily cruel to tell the child they will be getting a shot at the doctors? Yes. “We are going to see the doctor for a check-up”. If the child asks then it is a moral dilemma to be honest vs prevent suffering by lying that I’ll leave up to the reader but until then it is best not to add to the child’s stress by voluntarily ‘taunting’ them with foreknowledge. Is it torture though? Ofc not.
In the case of prisoners you can’t apply this reduction of harm due to anticipation concept because the prisoner has a right to know otherwise it would be ‘ideal’ to just let the prisoner fall asleep one night and the button gets pressed.