I would agree with the basic idea that there are three levels of pain, and also that only great apes are aware that they are in pain.
In fact humans may be in pain, but not be aware of it. I recently had a moderately serious accident, and cut my thumb deeply ( the tip of the bone was sliced off, to give you an idea ). I then probably cycled home ( I don’t remember that well due to concussion, of which I was completely unaware ), and was quite unaware that I was in pain. I did know that I had cut my thumb. You might argue that I wasn’t even in pain, that’s debatable.
I would also cite the example of young babies—they have very little self-awareness (I don’t recall the age at which it develops, but it is I think after birth), but can you assert they do not suffer when experiencing pain?
Regardless, the big jump here is going from “animals (other than great apes) not being aware that they are in pain” to the title of your post which is “An argument that animals don’t really suffer”. Why is suffering related to awareness of being in pain? Isn’t it enough just to be in pain?
It’s quite likely that you weren’t in level 2 pain at all—endorphins will do that to you. It would be very different if you had started feeling pain and then decided to use concious meditation in order to mitigate it. Roughly stated, you would feel your assessment of the sensation change from “pain/suffering” to “meh… some weird stimulation I don’t really care about”.
I’m aware of the theory of endorphins, but I’m a little doubtful if that is the correct explanation. I would instead attribute non-perception of pain mainly to the mind being able to shut out signals that are not the most important in a given situation. In fact while I am out cycling, I an easily able to instantly switch between perceiving pain (what is hurting at the moment) to concentrating on something else (going faster, or navigating a difficult corner say). So pain is often what we choose to perceive at a moment in time. In the case of my accident, if I had stopped and thought “what’s hurting”, I’m fairly sure I would have felt pain, and been aware of it. But until I had cycled home, put my bike in the garage, and called the emergency services, I was concentrating on other things. Having done that, I certainly did immediately feel pain! I doubt that endorphins could explain such rapid switch. Can endorphin production be consciously controlled? I doubt it.
I guess we agree here, except that I am attributing the lack of perception not to a concious decision to meditate, but an automatic stress response to concentrate fully on what what needs to be done. That would suggest I was in level 2 pain (albeit it may have been reduced due to endorphins), but I was nevertheless not aware of pain.
I would agree with the basic idea that there are three levels of pain, and also that only great apes are aware that they are in pain.
In fact humans may be in pain, but not be aware of it. I recently had a moderately serious accident, and cut my thumb deeply ( the tip of the bone was sliced off, to give you an idea ). I then probably cycled home ( I don’t remember that well due to concussion, of which I was completely unaware ), and was quite unaware that I was in pain. I did know that I had cut my thumb. You might argue that I wasn’t even in pain, that’s debatable.
I would also cite the example of young babies—they have very little self-awareness (I don’t recall the age at which it develops, but it is I think after birth), but can you assert they do not suffer when experiencing pain?
Regardless, the big jump here is going from “animals (other than great apes) not being aware that they are in pain” to the title of your post which is “An argument that animals don’t really suffer”. Why is suffering related to awareness of being in pain? Isn’t it enough just to be in pain?
It’s quite likely that you weren’t in level 2 pain at all—endorphins will do that to you. It would be very different if you had started feeling pain and then decided to use concious meditation in order to mitigate it. Roughly stated, you would feel your assessment of the sensation change from “pain/suffering” to “meh… some weird stimulation I don’t really care about”.
I’m aware of the theory of endorphins, but I’m a little doubtful if that is the correct explanation. I would instead attribute non-perception of pain mainly to the mind being able to shut out signals that are not the most important in a given situation. In fact while I am out cycling, I an easily able to instantly switch between perceiving pain (what is hurting at the moment) to concentrating on something else (going faster, or navigating a difficult corner say). So pain is often what we choose to perceive at a moment in time. In the case of my accident, if I had stopped and thought “what’s hurting”, I’m fairly sure I would have felt pain, and been aware of it. But until I had cycled home, put my bike in the garage, and called the emergency services, I was concentrating on other things. Having done that, I certainly did immediately feel pain! I doubt that endorphins could explain such rapid switch. Can endorphin production be consciously controlled? I doubt it.
I guess we agree here, except that I am attributing the lack of perception not to a concious decision to meditate, but an automatic stress response to concentrate fully on what what needs to be done. That would suggest I was in level 2 pain (albeit it may have been reduced due to endorphins), but I was nevertheless not aware of pain.