...Torturing the terrorist is unconstitutional? Probably. But millions of lives surely outweigh constitutionality. Torture is barbaric? Mass murder is far more barbaric. Indeed, letting millions of innocents die in deference to one who flaunts his guilt is moral cowardice, an unwillingness to dirty one's hands. If you caught the terrorist, could you sleep nights knowing that millions died because you couldn't bring yourself to apply the electrodes?...

American philosopher and educator. Educated at Michigan State University and Columbia University, Levin taught philosophy at Columbia from 1968 until 1980. He is currently a professor of philosophy at City College of the City University of New York, pursuing his research interests in theories of knowledge and the heritability of racial differences. The author of a number of scholarly articles, Levin has published Metaphysics and the Mind-Body Problem (1979), Feminism and Freedom (1987), Why Race Matters: Race Differences and What They Mean (1997), and Sexual Orientation and Human Rights (1999). Throughout his career Levin has courted controversy, taking contrarian stands on such diverse matters as homosexual rights, feminism, racial differences, and the acceptability of torture. See also gc.cuny.edu.