Philosophy of Pain/Suffering

Theremin

Hi,

Could anyone point me to any philosopers/sociologists/psychologists etc. who deal with pain and/or human suffering? Modern thinkers dealing with this area as it relates to the contemporary would would be most useful.

I'm not really looking for theological stuff - 'The Problem of Pain' in arguments for the existence of God, etc.

Thanks in advance.

Macmorris

I think the two German philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche, more than any other philosophers, held pain to be the central fact of human existence.

Although they ultimately held different ethical ideals, both believed that life was essentially painful and meaningless. Schopenhauer, who was mainly influenced by Buddhism, believed that pain was caused by our subconscious 'will to live' constantly striving after the unobtainable, and that the purpose of life was to overcome and transcend the 'will to live' by renouncing life. His philosophy was really no different from that of the Buddhists.

Nietzsche believed the exact opposite. He believed that the pain of existence was something that should be embraced on aesthetic grounds. Pain for him was a means to becoming stronger and more powerful, and that the more one tried to conquer pain, the more one was fulfilling the central driving force of all life, which for him was the 'will to power'. Nietzsche was mainly influenced by the aristocratic, pagan morality of pre-christian Europe. For him, the warrior caste of the Indo-European tribes embodied the ethical ideals (i.e. courage, pride, physical strength, manliness) that he believed should be emulated by those who wanted to live a meaningful life.

I'm not sure if any of Schopenhauer's works are available to read online but I think most of Nietzsche's are. I recommend you start with 'The Anti-Christ', which is his most readable book.

DadaKopf

The post-war existentialists dealt with this theme a lot. Try Sartre, Camus, Marcel and Jaspers. Antoin Artaud was a playwright who developed the 'Theatre of Cruelty'. Sociologist Emile Durkheim dealt with the issue of suicide (similar to Camus). Don't know about psychology, though. You could also try some religious scriptures. I also don't know where you could look for physiological accounts of pain - however, Smart and Place wrote about pain in the context of functionalist theory of mind (this is on the web).

But, eh, you could start here.

Neuro

As one poster has already mentioned, Arthur Schopenhauer made suffering a cornerstone of his philosophy. You can read his essay, On The Suffering Of The World here:

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=817764&lastnode_id=124

I'd recommend the following texts to get a feel for Schopenhauer's philosophy:

Essays and Aphorisms, Arthur Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer: A Very Short Introduction, Christopher Janaway

You may also want to examine the area of Evolutionary Psychology. This field has greatly undermined the long-held view that humans are naturally altruistic and benevolent. Many popular books on the subject highlight the fact that much of human suffering is a by-product of competition for scarce resources caused by evolutionary pressures. The following books are good introductions to the topic:

The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins
The Moral Animal, Robert Wright
The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker

You'll often find an pessimistic undercurrent in the worldview of those working of the fields of evolution and evolutionary psychology, from Charles Darwin right up to George Williams, one of the pioneers in the field.
The following is from an interview with George Williams:

INTERVIEWER: I found in your work several references to Buddhism; do you have a special liking of Buddhism?

WILLIAMS: My readings on this sort of things is extremely limited, but as a doctrine I think Buddhism is more compatible with the spirit of scienitific inquiry then what you get in the Old Testament. I think it is because of the explicit recognition in Buddhism that things are not naturally good. There is a lot of pain and suffering in the world, and that is because that's the way the world is. And the way to overcome this is to live a certain way and have certain attitudes of to some extent resignation; well, resignation in the sense of don't let it bother you, don't be disappointed and discouraged when bad things happen. This as opposed to some Christian and Jewish traditions, in which everything is for the best to some extent, because it is God's will that things be this way.

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It's not unusual it seems, for those with a somewhat pessimistic worldview, from Schopenhauer to Williams, to be drawn to Buddhist teachings as opposed to those of Abrahamic religions.[/font]

Theremin

Thanks for your replies. I found Schopenhaur and the parallels between his stance on this and Buddhist teachings particularly useful.

EamonnKeane

The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:

To exist is to suffer.
Suffering is caused by attachment to impermanent things.
Suffering ceases when attachment ceases.
There is a Way to end attachment.

Dagon

One of the best and most relevant writings on pain seem to be by J.Krishnamurti. Google him and you'll find loads of into. One very good site is:

http://www.buddhanet.net/bvk_study/bvk002.htm