AMMDI is an open-notebook hypertext writing experiment, authored by Mike Travers aka mtraven. It's a work in progress and some parts are more polished than others. Comments welcome! More.
if we must say yes to everything, without ‘picking and choosing’, but must shoulder whatever comes our way, how do we avoid what one contemporary philosopher and disciple of Nietzsche, Clément Rosset, has so aptly referred to as ‘the hangman’s argument’. This can be summarised as follows: there exist on Earth, since time immemorial, hangmen and torturers. They are indubitably part of the real; consequently, the doctrine of amor fati, which urges us to love whatever is the case, likewise must urge us to love torturers.
Rationalism seems to have a certain unhealthy interest in the subject; Roko's Basilisk involves an AI who tortures simulated humans, and Robin Hanson, whose whole schtick is tossing up horrible things without displaying horror, regularly coughs up suggestions like Torture Kids Instead. Extremely creepy.
One of my favorite works of fiction Book of the New Sun has a torturer as a protagonist (he is apprenticed to The Guild of Seekers for Truth and Penitence), and while he is perfectly capable of justifying his social role, he rejects his heritage in the end.