Michel Foucault on Discipline and Punish Crime is unavoidable in society but there is always a consequence which has to be faced by an individual who commits a crime or breaks a law by doing any illegal activity. This is punishment and the criminals are punished accordingly in order to maintain a sense of discipline. This in short means Discipline and Punishment. In this concept Michel Foucault critically explains and analyses the applicability and relevance of traditional and age old methods of punishment during his time, their effects on curbing the activities of criminal and controlling the crime rate. He also prescribes new methods of punishments by quoting other sociologists like Bentham explaining about his theory of ‘Penopticism’.…
Consequently, the aims of prison changed and the prisoner became the inmate and prison became the institute that the offender is sent to for treatment to improve…
Torturing suspects or criminals is a very hot issue in the United States. There are many arguments between should the US officials torture terrorists when interrogating them. Michael Levin says he agrees on torturing terrorists for information in his essay, “The Case for Torture”. He addresses his arguments by giving a few hypothetical scenarios of terrorist attacks. One of the examples is, when there is an atomic bomb in Manhattan which is going to explode very soon, the US got the guy who planted it and need to get the location of the bomb and method to disarm it.…
In his article “A Case for Torture,” Michael Levin creates a faulty argument for torture by disregarding the issue of the legality of torture. Levin’s article is in response to the publication of a shocking report by the Senate’s Intelligence Committee. The extensive report reveals the details of torture on suspected terrorists conducted by officials of the Central Intelligence Committee (CIA) and members of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). In his article, Levin attempts to defend the individuals and agencies through the use of pathos and other such rhetoric devices, but he has failed to discuss the legality of the act nor did he discuss the hypocritical nature of the scandal.…
Violence, most notably took the form of torture during the Algerian war. Due to the immense violence of the war, it was difficult to come to terms even decades after. Torture took many forms of pain, humiliation and shaming of the Algerians in order to gain information. The information that was at stake helped the French to bring down the hierarchy of the FLN. Although torture helped the French win battles, in the end it might of cost them the war by bringing more Algerians to the FLN’s side.…
Torture is now easier to justify in the context of the war on terror. Many opinions may arise when looking at whether or not we should torture potential terrorists and since there is not an actual strategy to proceed along when looking at it, the question still remains unanswered. The debate began after the incident in 9/11 had occurred and the government implemented several anti terrorism measures where justification was placed under the veil of Unitarianism. In the article “The torture debate” by Phillip Rumney and Martin O’Boyle they provide readers with complementary views on whether or not legalized systems of torture would be worth having. The authors also emphasize the issues that could result from having a torture of system since it could come with many implications.…
a perfect husband/wife, or a tons of cash. They show us what they believe society wants, and they use our insecurities and desires to make us want to get it. That’s how they use their power over us. Foucault, even more so than Bordo, comes right out and says where power comes from: the panopticon (at least the idea of it), the system that sees all but isn’t seen.…
In this essay I defend the nature of the balance of civil liberties, rights and torture by drawing upon Jeremy Waldron, Henry Shue and Jeff McMahan’s view on the morality of torture. Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological pain to an individual who is restrained and defenseless. Reasons for torture can include punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion of the victim or a third party, or simply the sadistic gratification of those carrying out or observing the torture. In this paper I will argue that torture is not morally justified; torture ought not to be legalized or otherwise institutionalized even in the ticking time bomb scenario because the rights of the innocent…
How do you determine if and when the use of torture would be ethical? Let’s begin by examining the views of two well-known philosophers John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant. Each of these philosophers had strong opinions and stances on the moral and ethical use of torture. John Stuart Mills’ theory on the ethical of the use of torture is that it is acceptable if it brings happiness and/or pleasure to the majority of people than if the torture were not carried out. One example he gives to support that theory is, if a terrorist has information that will prevent an act of terror that would result in the death of hundreds of innocent people and by obtaining this information thru an act of torture, it would likely save those lives he would agree…
The medieval times were gruesome and the torture and jail sentences were very cruel around that timing and a lot of people had passed away in Medieval times because of the torture and jail and violence along with the illnesses that we couldn't control during that time and around twenty million people died and one third of Europe's population had been killed off. The kings and queens were the cruelest in jail sentences along with the guards. The guards would abuse and beat the prisoners and the kings and queens would allow this to happen because it was there fault for getting caught and in that much of trouble. In that time period the Dark Era Kings were the most respected and if you didn't obey them you would get beheaded or tortured. They…
You awaken in a dark room, with no recollection of how you got there. You realize that you sit across from a few men, with a table separating from you. Next to the men you see a bucket filled with water and a rag. You are blinded by a bright white light and one of the men bangs on the table and says, “We know you are with the terrorists. So where are they hiding?”…
According to Michel Foucault in his book Discipline and Punish, the Panopticon is a prison designed to establish power and control of one individual over the prisoners through observation. This observation is achieved through the prison’s annular structure, with the prisoners in confined cells facing the center, and the supervisor in a central tower (Foucault 200). The ring-like structure and the central tower allow the supervisor to see all inmates while simultaneously prohibiting them from seeing each other or the supervisor. As Foucault states, for the prisoners, “visibility is a trap” (200). Visibility is a trap for the prisoners because they can see the tower, but not the supervisor (Foucault 201).…
Levin’s hypothetical leads to the illogical “A Case For Torture” is an essay written by Michael Levin in which he tries to make a compelling case for the use of torture as a punishment during certain situations in the United States. One of the ways Levin tries to logically prove his argument is by citing different real life situations; some examples are situations that actually occurred, but most are hypothetical situations. The use of hypothetical situations is meant to help direct the reader to understand the applications of Levin’s policy on torture. With that, Levin is not convincing in his argument as he relies too heavily on the hypothetical. Michael Levin in “A Case For Torture” is not logically convincing in his discussion as to why…
Clock is Ticking Tick…Tick…Tick…BOOM! The ticking of America’s clocks stopped while the world stood still. A cloud of smoke and the screams of terror start rising. People are running away and running into the debris. America is being attacked and is now in a state of panic.…
In the year of 2011, a young college student by the name of Alexandra Wallace was brought into the cruel spotlight of society. Wallace was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles at the time. She posted a video on YouTube, complaining about how the Asians at UCLA did not know how to act properly in an American society. She was mostly irritated by the fact the Asians did not know how to act in a library and would speak too loudly on their phones. She is now known today as the insulting girl that went to UCLA.…