What Is the Role of Pain in Human Life? A Lesson from Classical Greek Philosophy and Medicine
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11240%2F23%3A10479002" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11240/23:10479002 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=O3TQiV-37X" target="_blank" >https://verso.is.cuni.cz/pub/verso.fpl?fname=obd_publikace_handle&handle=O3TQiV-37X</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
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Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
What Is the Role of Pain in Human Life? A Lesson from Classical Greek Philosophy and Medicine
Original language description
In this paper, I examine the role of pain in classical Greek medicine and philosophy (ca. 450-300 BCE). I explore how Greek physicians and medical authors, whose texts are preserved in the so-called Corpus Hippocraticum, conceptualized pain. I present the role of pain in their explanations of the functioning of the human body, in diagnosis, and in therapy. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the framework for understanding pain used by these physicians can also be recognized in the philosophical ideas of Plato and Aristotle. Both physicians and philosophers are confronted with the question of how to integrate pain into broader theories of a meaningful world. Although it may initially seem that medicine approaches pain significantly differently from philosophy, I show that the basic schema is the same: pain needs to be understood, integrated, and, if possible, utilized for some beneficial purpose. Given that the nature of human life is such that certain positive aspects are necessarily connected to pain (such as childbirth, menstruation, exercise, education, and corrective punishment), the question arises regarding the role of pain, its causes, significance, and meaning. I demonstrate that while physicians and philosophers differ in their specific answers, they share the questions they ask about pain and the field in which they encounter these questions. Thus, this paper not only sheds light on the specific question concerning the role of pain in ancient medicine and philosophy but also, secondarily, on the relationship between these two domains of human knowledge and practice.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>ost</sub> - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
60301 - Philosophy, History and Philosophy of science and technology
Result continuities
Project
<a href="/en/project/GA22-11418S" target="_blank" >GA22-11418S: Mixing Body and Soul</a><br>
Continuities
P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)
Others
Publication year
2023
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Eirene
ISSN
0046-1628
e-ISSN
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Volume of the periodical
59
Issue of the periodical within the volume
I-II
Country of publishing house
CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC
Number of pages
31
Pages from-to
99-129
UT code for WoS article
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EID of the result in the Scopus database
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