The “time bomb” thought experiment requires you to imagine a bomb or other weapons of mass destruction hiding in your city, and that the countdown to the explosion is soon zero. One of the inmates in custody knew the location of the bomb.  Do you want to use torture to obtain the message? Time bomb scenarios are generally used as a refutation against dogma that you cannot use torture under any circumstances. A British newspaper put forward more extreme assumptions. If torture is ineffective against that terrorist, then will the authorities torture his wife and children for message.

The use of torture against terrorists is actually not the most tangled example. Social struggle has always been extremely harsh. In order to safeguard justice, we often need to do a lot of cruel things. To hold on to specific principles is called dogmatism, or bookishness.

Laws and ethics provide specific rules or guidelines that people should follow. People do not need to demon- strate the justness of behavior or calculate utilitarian gains from scratch every time. But the question is who should make the rules? Who is the eternal authority? Any principle and authority may be wrong. There are always some special circumstances where principles are not applicable. Suspicion and critical spirit are important forever.

Beliefs generally come from people's induction of many successful experiences. People believe that they should act according to their beliefs. There are many examples of ultimate success in upholding faith and giving up immediate interests. This is the eternal theme of artistic works and orthodox moral propaganda. At the same time, ideals and reality are often contradictory, and doing things according to beliefs often does not reach the goal within a short time. Many politicians pursue pragmatic policies. Pragmatism is contrary to beliefs and principles, but it may yield good results. Some people are punished for violating the principles for thousands of years. In the end, when should we abide by our beliefs and when should we abandon our beliefs? This is a question that can hardly be answered. We can only analyze specific issues and