... as hostage, threatening to execute the hostages if the opposition to not meet certain expectations. Indeed, Lackey holds that the policy of deterrence is much like 'tying a child to a bumper to prevent accidents' and in many ways this analogy is true. Essentially, deterrence is the threat of acting immorally (killing thousands of innocent people) to prevent an immoral act from occurring (it is this which Lackey considers immoral). Conversely, one may argue that the policy of deterrence, though immoral, in itself is a certain way to make sure peace remains - the threat of nuclear devastation eventually forces leaders to compromise and prevents the loss of millions of lives. However, in considering the policy of deterrence deontologically, Lackey reaches the conclusion that the use of an immoral threat as a prevention of an immoral act is intrinsically wrong in itself, as well as being seemingly pointless. Nuclear ...

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