Colleen,
Unfortunately, the utilitarian would indeed consider the position to torture the prisoner in lieu of the best thing for the entire society. Ill-advisedly, many take this stance because they believe it is the best for all involved. The problem with this is that it exemplifies living life, whether good or bad, it is full with double standards. Consider reversing the roles, if it were a U.S. prisoner abroad would the U.S. citizens or their governmental officials still feel it is the right thing to do. They would be outraged! As stated by Holmes (2007), then because it is a good thing for all U.S. citizens, then it would justify doing what is wrong. It would be like to consider a murderer is a murderer when he murders without a good reason
Unfortunately, the utilitarian would indeed consider the position to torture the prisoner in lieu of the best thing for the entire society. Ill-advisedly, many take this stance because they believe it is the best for all involved. The problem with this is that it exemplifies living life, whether good or bad, it is full with double standards. Consider reversing the roles, if it were a U.S. prisoner abroad would the U.S. citizens or their governmental officials still feel it is the right thing to do. They would be outraged! As stated by Holmes (2007), then because it is a good thing for all U.S. citizens, then it would justify doing what is wrong. It would be like to consider a murderer is a murderer when he murders without a good reason