Single Idea 3360

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 5. Qualia / a. Nature of qualia]

Full Idea

Are pains only sensory events, or do they also have a motivational component (e.g. aversiveness)?

Gist of Idea

Are pains pure qualia, or do they motivate?

Source

Jaegwon Kim (Philosophy of Mind [1996], p. 7)

Book Reference

Kim,Jaegwon: 'Philosophy of Mind' [Westview 1998], p.7


A Reaction

A nice question. Given the occasional genuine masochist, and the way some people love tastes that others hate, it has always seemed to me that aversiveness was not a necessary property of pain. I couldn't train myself to like pain, though…

Related Idea

Idea 2584 Lobotomised patients can cease to care about a pain [Block]