Despite pain’s phenomenal, neuronal and functional idiosyncrasy, there have been recent
attempts to identify a property or set of properties shared by all pains, in virtue of which they are considered pains. In this talk, Alon argues that such attempts should be rejected. Instead, he suggests that pain is a family resemblance concept constrained by pragmatic and moral considerations. On this view, pains share a range of phenomenal, neuronal and functional properties in a crisscrossing and overlapping manner, rather than a primal pain property or element. However, since many of these properties are also present in non-painful experiences, their presence alone cannot determine whether an experience is painful. Alon argues instead that pain categorization is guided by practical goals and ethical values. Accordingly, categorizing pain involves not only the identification of common properties, but also evaluating their importance. Pain research should therefore acknowledge that normative judgements are constitutive of pain.
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About the Speaker:
Alon Isac is a PhD student of philosophy at the University of York. His research focuses on the nature of suffering and its relation to emotion and pain. Specifically, he explores how recent developments in the study of pain can illuminate the nature of pain-related suffering.
He completed his B.A. and M.A. in philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.