Suffering (emotion)
Suffering, or pain in a broad sense, is an individual's basic affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm. Suffering may be qualified as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable. Factors of duration and frequency of occurrence usually compound that of intensity. In addition to such factors, people's attitudes toward suffering may take into account how much it is, in their opinion, avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved.
Suffering occurs commonly in the lives of sentient beings, in diverse manners, and often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned, from their own points of view, with some aspects of suffering. These aspects may include the nature of suffering, its processes, its origin and causes, its meaning and significance, its related personal, social, and cultural behaviors, its remedies, management, and uses.
'Pleasure' in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, which begins with this paragraph: "Pleasure, in the inclusive usages most important in moral psychology, ethical theory, and the studies of the mind, includes all joy and gladness - all our feeling good, or happy. It is often contrasted with similarly inclusive pain, or suffering, which is similarly thought of as including all our feeling bad." It should be mentioned that most encyclopedias, like the one mentioned above or like Britannica, do not have an article about suffering and deal with pain in the physical sense only.
Terminology
The word suffering is sometimes used in the narrow sense of physical pain, but more often it refers to mental or emotional pain, or more often yet to pain in the broad sense, i.e. to any unpleasant feeling, emotion or sensation. The word pain usually refers to physical pain, but it is also a common synonym of suffering. The words pain and suffering are often used both together in different ways. For instance, they may be used as interchangeable synonyms. Or they may be used in 'contradistinction' to one another, as in "pain is physical, suffering is mental", or "pain is inevitable, suffering is optional". Or they may be used to define each other, as in "pain is physical suffering", or "suffering is severe physical or mental pain".
Uses
Philosopher Leonard Katz wrote: "But Nature, as we now know, regards ultimately only fitness and not our happiness (...), and does not scruple to use hate, fear, punishment and even war alongside affection in ordering social groups and selecting among them, just as she uses pain as well as pleasure to get us to feed, water and protect our bodies and also in forging our social bonds".
People make use of suffering for specific social or personal purposes in many areas of human life, as can be seen in the following instances.
- In arts, literature, or entertainment, people may use suffering for creation, for performance, or for enjoyment. Entertainment particularly makes use of suffering in blood sports, violence in the media, or violent video games.
- In business and various organizations, suffering may be used for constraining humans or animals into required behaviors.
- In a criminal context, people may use suffering for coercion, revenge, or pleasure.
- In interpersonal relationships, especially in places like families, schools, or workplaces, suffering is used for various motives, particularly under the form of abuse and punishment. In another fashion related to interpersonal relationships, the sick, or victims, or malingerers, may use suffering more or less voluntarily to get primary, secondary, or tertiary gain.
- In law, suffering is used for punishment (see penal law ); victims may refer to what legal texts call "pain and suffering" to get compensation; lawyers may use a victim's suffering as an argument against the accused; an accused's or defendant's suffering may be an argument in their favor.
- In the news media, suffering is often the raw material.
- In personal conduct, people may use suffering for themselves, in a positive way. Personal suffering may lead, if bitterness, depression, or spitefulness is avoided, to character-building, spiritual growth, or moral achievement; realizing the extent or gravity of suffering in the world may motivate one to relieve it and may give an inspiring direction to one's life. Alternatively, people may make self-detrimental use of suffering. Some may be caught in compulsive reenactment of painful feelings in order to protect them from seeing that those feelings have their origin in unmentionable past experiences; some may addictively indulge in disagreeable emotions like fear, anger, or jealousy, in order to enjoy pleasant feelings of arousal or release that often accompany these emotions; some may engage in acts of self-harm aimed at relieving otherwise unbearable states of mind.
- In politics, there is purposeful infliction of suffering in war, torture, and terrorism; people may use nonphysical suffering against competitors in nonviolent power struggles; people who argue for a policy may put forward the need to relieve, prevent or avenge suffering; individuals or groups may use past suffering as a political lever in their favor.
- In religion, suffering is used especially to grow spiritually, to expiate, to inspire compassion and help, to frighten, to punish.
- In rites of passage (see also hazing, ragging), rituals that make use of suffering are frequent.
- In science, humans and animals are subjected on purpose to unpleasant experiences for the study of suffering or other phenomena.
- In sex, individuals may use suffering in a context of sadism and masochism or BDSM.
- In sports, suffering may be used to outperform competitors or oneself; see sports injury, and no pain, no gain; see also blood sport and violence in sport as instances of pain-based entertainment.
See also
| Topics related to suffering | |
|---|---|
| Physical pain-related topics | Pain • Pain (philosophy) • Psychogenic pain |
| Evil-related topics | Evil • Problem of evil • Good and evil: welfarist theories |
| Compassion-related topics | Compassion • Compassion fatigue • Pity • Mercy • Sympathy • Empathy |
| Cruelty-related topics | Cruelty • Schadenfreude • Sadistic personality disorder • Violence • Abuse • Physical abuse • Psychological or emotional abuse • Self-harm • Cruelty to animals |
| Death-related topics | Euthanasia • Animal euthanasia • Suicide |
| Other related topics | Dukkha • Weltschmerz • Amor fati • Dystopia • Victimology • Penology • Theory of relative suffering • Pleasure • Happiness |
Suffering
Agony
Suffering
Hurt
Anguish
Sadness
Depression
Despair
Hopelessness
Gloom
Glumness
Sadness
Unhappiness
Grief
Sorrow
Woe
Misery
Melancholy
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Suffering_(emotion) ]
| W. Parrot Model of Emotions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primary emotions | Secondary emotions | Tertiary emotions |
| Love | ||
| Affection | adoration, affection, attraction, caring, compassion, fondness, liking, love, romance, sentimentality, tenderness, | |
| Lust | arousal, desire, ecstasy, lust, passion, infatuation | |
| Longing | longing | |
| Joy | ||
| Contentment | Contentment, pleasure, happiness | |
| Enthrallment | enthronement, rapture | |
| Pride | pride, triumph | |
| Optimism | eagerness, hope, optimism | |
| Relief | relief | |
| Zest | enthusiasm, zeal, less, excitement, thrill, exhilarating | |
| Surprise | ||
| Surprise | amazement, surprise, astonishment | |
| Anger | ||
| Irritation | aggravation, irritation, education, annoyance, grouchiness, grumpiness | |
| Exasperation | exasperating, frustration | |
| Disgust | disgust, revulsion, contempt | |
| Rage | anger, rage, outrage, fury, rat, hostility, ferocity, hate, loathing, scorn, Spike, faithfulness, dislike, presentment | |
| Envy | envy, jealousy | |
| Torment | torment | |
| Sadness | ||
| Disappointment | dismay, disappointment, displeasure | |
| Neglect | alienation, isolation, neglect, loneliness, rejection, home sickness, defeat, detection, insecurity, embarrassment, humiliation, insult | |
| Sadness | depression, despair, hopelessness, gloom, loneliness, sadness unhappiness, grief, sorrow, woe, Missouri, melancholy | |
| Shame | guilt, shame, regret, remorse | |
| Suffering | agony, suffering, hurt, malaise | |
| Sympathy | pity, sympathy | |
| Fear | ||
| Horror | alarm, shock, fear, fright, or Caarol, panic, hysteria, mortification | |
| Nervousness | apprehension, anxiety, distressed, dread nervousness, phobia, tenseness, uneassiness, tremor, worry, distressed, dread | |
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