Torture occurring in a modern society does not prove it is integral to modernity

Evidence

Whether all the transformations in Iran in the period covered by Rejali’s book truly represent modernization in the sense of moral improvement is—these readers will say—an open question, but shocking evidence of blatant torture in that country does not prove that torture is integral to modernity; what it shows is that torture might occur in it, as Scott concedes. — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 511

Categorization

• XREF: This evidentiary caveat parallels how scholars must be careful claiming Islam is ‘integral’ to violence based on co-occurrence rather than mechanism.