Pain is what is known as a private language. One of the question Wittgenstein asked in “Philosophical Investigations” is whether or not a private language can exist. A private language is communication that is something only for you. It is communicating that speaks to no one else but yourself. Such a language would be hunger. No one can understand your hunger. You could tell them you are hungry, yet they cannot understand your hunger.

Wittgenstein decides that private languages cannot exist in logic. When I am talking about pain we MUST talk about it from a behaviorial point-of-view. We cannot talk about it from a subjective character of experience because we cannot.

Pain IS NOT a universal. It is a particular for each person. No one shares the same pain. But how we understand pain is universal. Make sure you know that difference between knowing pain and understanding pain. I know pain because I feel pain. I understand pain because I observe the behaviors of others in pain. Pain refers to an individual private language, yet we cannot describe pain in terms of this private language.

Pain is not real, technically speaking that is.

Its the balance of pain and joy. You are only in pain when you are paying attention to it. So when you are distracted from pain for maybe a second, is the pain still there even though you cant feel it? Is it deep in your sub conscience? Or perhaps it’s not real at all, its all made up?

-nicci

I have to write a paper ont he question of whether pain is a brain state or is it a functional state. As i see it pain is a word that refers to a behaviour output, and so therefore can be described in a functional nexus. If i want to have a theory of pain that applies to all species ( and martians) then i can’t say pain=C fibres because some martians might not have the same system as we occupy. I was reading the “mad Pain” by Lewis and he says that the functionalist cannot account for pain because the mad person acts differently to the typical causal role that we undergo. I am thinking 1) the mad pain is impossible 2) “pain” is experienced by people differently – i might not believe i am in pain. 3) i think the functionalist account is the closest to the truth i.e pain is viewed as a functional role but i think it has many problems. Has anyone studied this area?

Pain is an experience, emotional, psychological or physical. Since everyone experiences it, it is universal. Someone on some forum asked a very interesting question. Where does the pain really exist? At the point where it seems to pain or in your brain or in your mind or in your heart? They didn't use these specific words but the jist is the same. I'm curious to know, where does it really exist? I think it exists only in the mind. Which is perhaps precisely the reason why and how God understands our pain.