When do the ends justify the means?

[Athene]

I'm against torture as well. 

I was just answering a hypothetical scenario in which an innocent child who was known to be alive and could still be found, as honestly as possible. I would do what it takes to find them, if  I knew with absolute certainty who the person responsible for taking them was  AND they were not forthcoming. 

I know that torture is wrong, but I can't say that it's not something I wouldn't consider under those very specific circumstances as a matter of survival. As I said, I'm just being honest.

Well, that's a very specific hypothetical, and perhaps designed to elicit a particular answer? I mean: how could you know the child is alive if you have his captor in your power? If your prisoner was only a henchman, how can your guarantee that his information is up-to-date? What if his cohorts move the child while you're bashing his face in?

No, torture doesn't admit those possibilities. It should be abjured.

I only answered the hypothetical as it was presented in the OP. The child is alive, but soon to die and I have  the perpetrator with me. You've added several other factors to this hypothetical, enough to change it into a completely different scenario.

I do believe that torture is wrong. I don't believe that government or state-sponsored torture, under any other name is a morally acceptable practice OR wise practice, considering the fact that civilians and combatants are likely to say anything they think their captors want to hear, in order to make the torture stop. It is a self-defeating practice that shouldn't take place in any society that claims to uphold human rights.

With that being said, I did lay out a scenario, in which I would be willing to consider this if it were necessary, as it relates to a highly unlikely, hypothetical scenario. Implausible...but, not impossible.

I view torture the same as I view murder, in this regard. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while people accept the fact that murder is wrong, they would typically make the choice to kill someone if they had to in order to defend themselves or their loved ones... as an extremely rare and isolated incident.

I can't imagine that most people wouldn't be willing to fuck up some guy, in order to find out where he stashed a missing kid. If it were there own child, even more so. The innate drive to protect their child would be all-encompassing, even as they knew what they were doing was wrong.

I'm sorry if you take this to mean that I'm saying that torture is okay, because I'm not.