约翰和肯首先讨论了两种主要的道德观，康德主义和功利主义，以及它们是如何影响酷刑是否道德的问题的。康德道德框架的订阅者会采取强硬的态度，声称永远不能把人当作工具来对待;人类是自主的存在，而酷刑直接违背了这一事实。相比之下，肯解释说，功利主义者会声称酷刑是正确的做法只要它能给最多的人带来最大的好处。约翰在节目的第一部分结束时列出了几个其他的问题，除了酷刑的道德问题。它是有效的吗?折磨和被折磨是什么感觉?

After Ken introduces Nancy Sherman, John asks for her working definition of torture. Nancy answers by saying that there is no clear line between interrogation and torture; the two exist alongside each other on a continuum. Next, in response to audience member questions, Nancy, Ken, and John discuss the efficacy of torture, the role of power in the tortured/torturer relationship, and how one famous prisoner of war, James Stockdale, channelled the philosophy of Epictetus to endure intense suffering.

Late in the show, John asks the million dollar question. Is the morality of torture a matter of absolutes, or is it sometimes permissible to torture? Nancy forcibly responds with a Kantian point of view. Torture, she claims, is never morally acceptable. Ken challenges this stance with the ticking time-bomb thought experiment. He describes a scene in which a bomb is set to go off in Manhattan, and hundreds of thousands of deaths might be avoided if the mastermind of the plot is tortured and the bomb can be dismantled with the resulting information.

南希坚持自己的立场。她坚持认为，这种极端的假设是哲学家们闲谈时的一种奢侈。政策必须植根于现实环境，用这样一个牵强附会的例子来为酷刑辩护，为酷刑在其他情况下也能被接受打开了一张牌。最后，南希回到了她在节目中一直强调的一点。即使审讯是正确的，不涉及酷刑，审讯者也会感到道德上的不安。这种感觉不仅仅是静态的噪音;士兵的心理揭示了不可忽视的道德现象。

• Roving Philosophical Reporter前关塔那摩湾狱警克里斯·阿伦特(Chris Arendt)承认他认为自己参与了酷刑。In addition, Justine Sharrock, author ofTortured: When Good Soldiers Do Bad Things, offers her thoughts on how torture affects both soldiers and their communities back home.
  
• Philosophy Talk Goes to the Movies: John and Ken discussA Serious Man,the latest film by the Coen Brothers.