Torture

Torture is defined by its objective rather than by the methods used, which is what makes the second sentence follow. The objective is full sublation, and the site is the most intimate circle of self, the one containing body, thoughts, self and life and the one protected by privacy. Torture is a struggle for ownership of that circle, and if the ownership is lost the self will be sublated, which is why torture of body and mind is designed to encourage dissociation, since dissociation is the relinquishing of that ownership. Pain is instrumental rather than definitional here. The second sentence extends the category on the strength of the objective. Asceticism under the direction of an external will is torture, because the same operation is occurring with the target's own body as the instrument, which is why the framework's three forms of asceticism are distinguished by whose will directs them. Marsh's account of what marks success is precise and disturbing. It is the destruction of the will to resist that is the mark of sublation, and those who continue to resist are labelled criminal and insane and locked away to leave a population that has been broken. She also insists on the preconditions, since before cruelty is used to extract secondary anima a power imbalance must be established, a connection formed and a negative image created, so torture is the end of a sequence rather than an isolated act.

International law defines torture by severe pain or suffering inflicted intentionally for purposes including obtaining information or punishment, with the Convention against Torture the standard instrument. Elaine Scarry's The Body in Pain argued that torture destroys the victim's world and converts pain into a display of the regime's power, which is close to Marsh's account of the objective. Research on coercive interrogation has established that it does not reliably produce accurate information, supporting readings that locate the purpose elsewhere. Marsh's definition is broader than the legal one, since defining by objective rather than by severity brings in practices the Convention would not reach.