Reply #7: I have two counter-cases for the "ticking time bomb".

[Mechatanketra]

1) "And what if terrorists were going to wake up Godzilla? Why, torture could save all of Japan!" Except, of course, for the fact that Godzilla doesn't exist ... just like the ticking time bomb scenario. There simply never has been, and never will be (outside of a movie script) such a case where torture would be so clear-cutly useful, entirely ignoring questions of its morality.

2) "What if there was a ticking time-bomb, but no prisoner? Is that same million lives worth, say, actually granting their demands?" It's an article of faith that you just don't negotiate with terrorists ... but then, it's supposed to also be a given that you just don't torture. What does a "rational moral calculus" say about weighing a handful of released prisoners or some material payment (cash, weapons, whatever) against countless innocent lives? If you think we can afford to be absolute against negotiation regardless of the cost, then we can be absolute against torture regardless of the cost.