The best torture is an effect caused by acts which are not torture. Andrew and Ross reflect. My basic stance on torture is pretty clear but also pretty modern: I want a strict, narrow definition of that which is absolutely impermissible. This suggests great skepticism and discomfort with what Ross and Andrew call "torture lite." Yet it also reflects a stubborn resistance to the evil involved in trying to get as close to torture as possible without actually crossing the line. If Plato is right about the weird numerology pertaining to the tripartite soul, our reasoned control over our spirited selves is asymptotic, meaning always approaching but never reaching. It’s like Zeno’s dichotomy paradox ; applied to torture, it suggests evilly that we can always get closer to actual torture without touching it. Interestingly, the falseness of this proposition seems to appear from a position external to instrumental reason.
