The torture category expanded psychologically while excluding physical cases

Evidence

The category of torture is no longer limited to applications of physical pain: it now includes psychological coercion in which disorientation, isolation, and brainwashing are employed. Indeed “torture” in our day functions not only to denote behavior actually prohibited by law, but also desired to be so prohibited in accordance with changing concepts of “inhumane” treatment (for example, the public execution or flogging of criminals, and child abuse, as well as animal experiments, factory farming, and fox hunting). — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 563 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The concept of torture has expanded from physical pain to include cruelty. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 563; Physical and psychological pain are not cleanly separable categories — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 404; Torture became scandalous only once its pain was recategorized as gratuitous — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular:…, 519 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The concept of torture has expanded from physical pain to include cruelty. #corroborates (0.95) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 563