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134-412: Suffering is often categorized 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. Attitudes toward suffering may vary widely, in the sufferer or other people, according to how much it is regarded as avoidable or unavoidable, useful or useless, deserved or undeserved. Suffering occurs in

268-533: A certain goal. However, other theories of psychology present contradicting ideas such as the idea that humans sometimes seek out suffering. Many existentialists believe suffering is necessary in order to find meaning in our lives. Existential Positive Psychology is a theory dedicated to exploring the relationship between suffering and happiness and the belief that true authentic happiness can only come from experiencing pain and hardships. Hedonistic psychology, affective science , and affective neuroscience are some of

402-546: A conscious individual are known as qualia in Western philosophy . "Sentience" was first coined by philosophers in the 1630s for the concept of an ability to feel, derived from Latin sentiens (feeling). In philosophy, different authors draw different distinctions between consciousness and sentience. According to Antonio Damasio , sentience is a minimalistic way of defining consciousness, which otherwise commonly and collectively describes sentience plus further features of

536-510: A consequence, this doctrine has become identified with stern self-control in regard to suffering. Jeremy Bentham developed hedonistic utilitarianism , a popular doctrine in ethics, politics, and economics. Bentham argued that the right act or policy was that which would cause "the greatest happiness of the greatest number". He suggested a procedure called hedonic or felicific calculus , for determining how much pleasure and pain would result from any action. John Stuart Mill improved and promoted

670-439: A desire for fame, participation in politics was discouraged. Further, Epicurus sought to eliminate the fear of the gods and of death , seeing those two fears as chief causes of strife in life. When we say ... that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the pleasures of the prodigal or the pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do by some through ignorance, prejudice or wilful misrepresentation. By pleasure we mean

804-432: A direct moral appeal for help, while there is no similar call to increase the happiness of a man who is doing well anyway." David Pearce , for his part, advocates a utilitarianism that aims straightforwardly at the abolition of suffering through the use of biotechnology (see more details below in section Biology, neurology, psychology ). Another aspect worthy of mention here is that many utilitarians since Bentham hold that

938-410: A distinction is that it uses physical pain in a sense that normally includes not only the 'typical sensory experience of physical pain' but also other unpleasant bodily experiences including air hunger , hunger , vestibular suffering , nausea , sleep deprivation , and itching . A second caveat is that the terms physical or mental should not be taken too literally: physical pain or suffering, as

1072-505: A family and in other situations it will be more beneficial to participate in politics. It is ultimately up to the Epicurean to analyse their circumstance and take whatever action befits the situation. Epicureanism rejects immortality . It believes in the soul, but suggests that the soul is mortal and material, just like the body. Epicurus rejected any possibility of an afterlife, while still contending that one need not fear death: "Death

1206-524: A family, as the benefits of a wife and children are outweighed by the trouble brought about by having a family. Instead Epicurus encouraged a formation of a community of friends outside the traditional political state. This community of virtuous friends would focus on internal affairs and justice. However, Epicureanism is adaptable to circumstance as is the Epicurean approach to politics. The same approaches will not always work in protection from pain and fear. In some situations it will be more beneficial to have

1340-454: A general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism , and its main opponent later became Stoicism . It is a form of hedonism insofar as it declares pleasure to be its sole intrinsic goal. However, the concept that the absence of pain and fear constitutes the greatest pleasure, and its advocacy of a simple life, make it very different from hedonism as colloquially understood. Following

1474-720: A list of the Principal Doctrines of Epicureanism; however, there are independent attestations of his ideas from his later disciples. The epic poem De rerum natura (Latin for "On the Nature of Things") by Lucretius presents the core arguments and theories of Epicureanism in one unified work. Many Epicurean texts have also been found on scrolls unearthed at the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum , mostly works written by

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1608-487: A machine conscious in exactly the way humans are is not one that we are equipped to take on." Indeed, leading AI textbooks do not mention "sentience" at all. Digital sentience is of considerable interest to the philosophy of mind . Functionalist philosophers consider that sentience is about "causal roles" played by mental states, which involve information processing. In this view, the physical substrate of this information processing does not need to be biological, so there

1742-456: A manner that caused the viewer to experience the color red. The atoms are not perceived individually, but rather as a continuous sensation because of how quickly they move. The Epicureans believed that all sense perceptions were true, and that errors arise in how we judge those perceptions. When we form judgments about things ( hupolepsis ), they can be verified and corrected through further sensory information. For example, if someone sees

1876-418: A matter of fact, happens through conscious minds and involves emotional aspects, while mental pain or suffering happens through physical brains and, being an emotion, involves important physiological aspects. The word unpleasantness , which some people use as a synonym of suffering or pain in the broad sense, may refer to the basic affective dimension of pain (its suffering aspect), usually in contrast with

2010-578: A means of perception, but they perceive our internal state as opposed to external things. According to Diogenes Laertius, feelings are how we determine our actions. If something is pleasurable, we pursue that thing, and if something is painful, we avoid that thing. The idea of "presentational applications of the mind" is an explanation for how we can discuss and inquire about things we cannot directly perceive. We receive impressions of such things directly in our minds, instead of perceiving them through other senses. The concept of "presentational applications of

2144-403: A smaller subsection of the substance. Atoms are constantly moving in one of four different ways. Atoms can simply collide with each other and then bounce off of each other. When joined with each other and forming a larger object, atoms can vibrate as they collide into each other while still maintaining the overall shape of the larger object. When not prevented by other atoms, all atoms move at

2278-545: A test of a person's faith, like the Book of Job illustrates. For Christianity, redemptive suffering is the belief that human suffering, when accepted and offered up in union with the "passion" (flogging and crucifixion) of Jesus, can remit the just punishment for sins, and allow oneself to grow in the love of The Trinity, other people, and oneself. In Islam, the faithful must endure suffering with hope and faith, not resist or ask why, accept it as Allah's will and submit to it as

2412-479: A test of faith. Allah never asks more than can be endured. One must also work to alleviate the suffering of others, as well as one's own. Suffering is also seen as a blessing. Through that gift, the sufferer remembers Allah and connects with him. Suffering expunges the sins of human beings and cleanses their soul for the immense reward of the afterlife, and the avoidance of hell. According to the Bahá'í Faith, all suffering

2546-418: A tower from far away that appears to be round, and upon approaching the tower they see that it is actually square, they would come to realize that their original judgement was wrong and correct their wrong opinion. Epicurus is said to have proposed three criteria of truth : sensations ( aisthêsis ), preconceptions ( prolepsis ), and feelings ( pathê ). A fourth criterion called "presentational applications of

2680-484: Is Philodemus of Gadara 's basic guideline as to how to live the happiest possible life, based on the first four of the doctrines. This poetic doctrine was handed down by an anonymous Epicurean who summed up Epicurus' philosophy on happiness in four simple lines: Don't fear god, Don't worry about death; What is good is easy to get, and What is terrible is easy to endure. Three letters of Epicurus are preserved by Diogenes Laertius. Epicurus' Letter to Herodotus (not

2814-567: Is a brief and temporary manifestation of physical life, whose source is the material aspects of physical existence, and often attachment to them, whereas only joy exists in the spiritual worlds. Artistic and literary works often engage with suffering, sometimes at great cost to their creators or performers. Be it in the tragic, comic or other genres, art and literature offer means to alleviate (and perhaps also exacerbate) suffering, as argued for instance in Harold Schweizer's Suffering and

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2948-458: Is a clear and direct perception of that object. An individual's preconceptions are his or her concepts of what things are, e.g. what someone's idea of a horse is, and these concepts are formed in a person's mind through sensory input over time. When the word that relates to the preconception is used, these preconceptions are summoned up by the mind into the person's thoughts. It is through our preconceptions that we are able to make judgments about

3082-421: Is a summary of his ethical teachings written in the epistolary literary style, and addressed to a student. It addresses theology, the hierarchies of desires, how to carry choices and avoidances in order to achieve net pleasure, and other aspects of Epicurean ethics . The Epicurea is a collection of texts, fragments, and testimonies by Epicurus that was collected by Hermann Usener in 1887. This work features

3216-555: Is a work by the Union of International Associations . Its main databases are about world problems (56,564 profiles), global strategies and solutions (32,547 profiles), human values (3,257 profiles), and human development (4,817 profiles). It states that "the most fundamental entry common to the core parts is that of pain (or suffering)" and "common to the core parts is the learning dimension of new understanding or insight in response to suffering". Ralph Siu , an American author, urged in 1988

3350-698: Is alleviated by achieving mental clarity or lucidity (ἁτυφια: atyphia), developing self-sufficiency (αὐτάρκεια: autarky ), equanimity , arete , love of humanity , parrhesia , and indifference to the vicissitudes of life ( adiaphora ). For Pyrrhonism , suffering comes from dogmas (i.e. beliefs regarding non-evident matters), most particularly beliefs that certain things are either good or bad by nature. Suffering can be removed by developing epoche (suspension of judgment) regarding beliefs, which leads to ataraxia (mental tranquility). Epicurus (contrary to common misperceptions of his doctrine) advocated that we should first seek to avoid suffering ( aponia ) and that

3484-606: Is based on mutual agreement, not divine decree. He defined justice as an agreement made by people not to harm each other. The point of living in a society with laws and punishments is to be protected from harm so that one is free to pursue happiness. Because of this, laws that do not contribute to promoting human happiness are not just. He gave his own unique version of the ethic of reciprocity , which differs from other formulations by emphasizing minimizing harm and maximizing happiness for oneself and others: Epicurean ideas on politics disagree with other philosophical traditions, namely

3618-628: Is concerned that AI sentience would be particularly easy to deny, and that if achieved, humans might nevertheless continue to treat AI systems as mere tools. He notes that the linguistic behaviour of LLMs is not a reliable way to assess whether they are sentient. He suggests to apply theories of consciousness, such as the global workspace theory , to the algorithms implicitly learned by LLMs, but noted that this technique requires advances in AI interpretability to understand what happens inside. He also mentions some other pathways that may lead to AI sentience, such as

3752-494: Is entitled, at a minimum, to protection from unnecessary suffering , though animal-rights advocates may differ on what rights (e.g., the right to life) may be entailed by simple sentience. Sentiocentrism describes the theory that sentient individuals are the center of moral concern. Gary Francione also bases his abolitionist theory of animal rights, which differs significantly from Singer's , on sentience. He asserts that, "All sentient beings, humans or nonhuman, have one right:

3886-441: Is made up of atoms, which are tiny bodies that have only the unchanging qualities of shape, size, and weight. The Epicureans believed that atoms were unchanging because the world was ordered and that changes had to have specific and consistent sources, e.g. a plant species only grows from a seed of the same species, but that in order for the universe to persist, what it is ultimately made up of must not be able to be changed or else

4020-855: Is needed for necessities, use your own choice as you wish. It is sure difficult to imagine, however, that none of these would be a part of sex because sex never benefitted anyone. In order to do this an Epicurean had to control their desires, because desire itself was seen as painful. Not only will controlling one's desires bring about aponia , as one will rarely suffer from not being physically satisfied, but controlling one's desires will also help to bring about ataraxia because one will not be anxious about becoming discomforted since one would have so few desires anyway. The Epicureans divide desires into three classes: natural and necessary, natural but not necessary, and vain and empty: If one follows only natural and necessary desires, then, according to Epicurus, one would be able to reach aponia and ataraxia and thereby

4154-443: Is no theoretical barrier to the possibility of sentient machines. According to type physicalism however, the physical constitution is important; and depending on the types of physical systems required for sentience, it may or may not be possible for certain types of machines (such as electronic computing devices) to be sentient. The discussion on the topic of alleged sentience of artificial intelligence has been reignited in 2022 by

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4288-560: Is not a meaningful concept. Regarding animal consciousness , the Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness , publicly proclaimed on 7 July 2012 at Cambridge University, states that many non-human animals possess the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states, and can exhibit intentional behaviors. The declaration notes that all vertebrates (including fish and reptiles) have this neurological substrate for consciousness, and that there

4422-422: Is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?" Richard D. Ryder defines sentientism broadly as the position according to which an entity has moral status if and only if it is sentient. In David Chalmer's more specific terminology, Bentham is a narrow sentientist , since his criterion for moral status is not only the ability to experience any phenomenal consciousness at all, but specifically

4556-535: Is nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is nothing to us." From this doctrine arose the Epicurean Epitaph: Non fui, fui, non sum, non curo ("I was not; I have been; I am not; I do not mind."), which is inscribed on the gravestones of his followers and seen on many ancient gravestones of the Roman Empire . Epicureanism does not deny

4690-559: 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". Qualifiers, such as physical , mental , emotional , and psychological , are often used to refer to certain types of pain or suffering. In particular, mental pain (or suffering) may be used in relationship with physical pain (or suffering) for distinguishing between two wide categories of pain or suffering. A first caveat concerning such

4824-443: Is possible that some political association could be seen as beneficial by some Epicureans. Some political associations could lead to certain benefits to the individual that would help to maximize pleasure and avoid physical or mental distress. of all the things which wisdom has contrived which contribute to a blessed life, none is more important, more fruitful, than friendship Epicurus laid great emphasis on developing friendships as

4958-402: Is related to the concept of ahimsa , non-violence toward other beings. In some forms of Buddhism, plants, stones and other inanimate objects are considered to be 'sentient'. In Jainism many things are endowed with a soul, jīva , which is sometimes translated as 'sentience'. Some things are without a soul, ajīva , such as a chair or spoon. There are different rankings of jīva based on

5092-410: Is still disputed. Some scholars say that Epicureanism believes that the gods exist outside the mind as material objects (the realist position), while others assert that the gods only exist in our minds as ideals (the idealist position). The realist position holds that Epicureans understand the gods as existing as physical and immortal beings made of atoms that reside somewhere in reality. However,

5226-467: Is strong evidence that many invertebrates also have it. David Chalmers argues that sentience is sometimes used as shorthand for phenomenal consciousness , the capacity to have any subjective experience at all, but sometimes refers to the narrower concept of affective consciousness , the capacity to experience subjective states that have affective valence (i.e., a positive or negative character), such as pain and pleasure. The sentience quotient concept

5360-625: Is such a universal motivating experience, people, when asked, can relate their activities to its relief and prevention. Farmers, for instance, may claim that they prevent famine, artists may say that they take our minds off our worries, and teachers may hold that they hand down tools for coping with life hazards. In certain aspects of collective life, however, suffering is more readily an explicit concern by itself. Such aspects may include public health , human rights , humanitarian aid , disaster relief , philanthropy , economic aid , social services , insurance , and animal welfare . To these can be added

5494-434: Is the avoidable result of Darwinian evolution . Pearce promotes replacing the biology of suffering with a robot-like response to noxious stimuli or with information-sensitive gradients of bliss, through genetic engineering and other technical scientific advances. Different theories of psychology view suffering differently. Sigmund Freud viewed suffering as something humans are hardwired to avoid, while they are always in

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5628-474: Is the name of a philosophical treatise in 37 books consisting of lectures written by Epicurus, which can be considered his main work, however, it has mostly been lost. Some excerpts have survived compiled from burnt papyri scrolls found in the Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum . Most of the surviving papyri are kept in the National Library of Naples . Important parts of Book II are preserved in

5762-494: Is the physical or mental pleasures that involve action or change. Eating delicious food, as well as fulfilling desires and removing pain, which is itself considered a pleasurable act, are all examples of kinetic pleasure in the physical sense. According to Epicurus, feelings of joy would be an example of mental kinetic pleasure. Katastematic pleasure is the pleasure one feels while in a state without pain. Like kinetic pleasures, katastematic pleasures can also be physical, such as

5896-458: Is the second letter preserved by Diogenes Laertius in The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. In Letter to Pythocles, Epicurus treats the things for which there is uncertainty in how they occur. His train of thought is explicated through meteorological phenomena: various weather events as well as celestial phenomena in space such as asteroids, the creation and destruction of cosmoi, and

6030-624: Is therefore determined not by the threat itself but, rather, by its meaning to the individual and the threat to their personhood. Suffering and pleasure are respectively the negative and positive affects, or hedonic tones, or valences that psychologists often identify as basic in our emotional lives. The evolutionary role of physical and mental suffering, through natural selection, is primordial: it warns of threats, motivates coping ( fight or flight , escapism ), and reinforces negatively certain behaviors (see punishment , aversives ). Despite its initial disrupting nature, suffering contributes to

6164-442: Is thought that the gods were emblematic of the life one should aspire towards. The debate between these two positions was revived by A. A. Long and David Sedley in their 1987 book, The Hellenistic Philosophers , in which the two argued in favour of the idealist position. While a scholarly consensus has yet to be reached, the realist position remains the prevailing viewpoint at this time. On Nature ( Ancient Greek : Περὶ φύσεως )

6298-429: Is whether the way these noxious stimuli are processed within the brain leads to a subjective experience of pain. To address that, researchers often look for behavioral cues. For example, "if a dog with an injured paw whimpers, licks the wound, limps, lowers pressure on the paw while walking, learns to avoid the place where the injury happened and seeks out analgesics when offered, we have reasonable grounds to assume that

6432-649: The British Museum . Since most of the 37 books "On Nature" are lost, the Principal Doctrines and Epicurus' Letters to Herodotus, Menoeceus, and Pythocles are the most authoritative writings on Epicureanism. Similarly, Lucretius' poem De rerum natura probably follows Epicurus' work. The Principal Doctrines are forty authoritative conclusions set up as official doctrines by Epicurus, Metrodorus of Lampsacus , Hermarchus of Mitilene and Polyaenus of Lampsacus . The Principal Doctrines exemplify

6566-684: The Catiline conspiracy where he spoke out against the Stoic Cato . His father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus , was also an adept of the school. In the 2nd century CE, comedian Lucian of Samosata and wealthy promoter of philosophy Diogenes of Oenoanda were prominent Epicureans. By the late third century CE, however, there was little trace of its existence. With growing dominance of Neoplatonism and Peripateticism , and later, Christianity , Epicureanism declined. In his letter to Herodotus , Epicurus presented three principles as to

6700-679: The Cyrenaic philosopher Aristippus , Epicurus believed that the greatest good was to seek modest, sustainable pleasure in the form of a state of ataraxia (tranquility and freedom from fear) and aponia (the absence of bodily pain) through knowledge of the workings of the world and limiting desires. Correspondingly, Epicurus and his followers generally withdrew from politics because it could lead to frustrations and ambitions that would conflict with their pursuit of virtue and peace of mind. Few writings by Epicurus have survived. Diogenes Laërtius preserves three letters written by Epicurus, as well as

6834-547: The Noble Eightfold Path . Buddhism considers liberation from dukkha and the practice of compassion ( karuna ) as basic for leading a holy life and attaining nirvana . Hinduism holds that suffering follows naturally from personal negative behaviors in one's current life or in a past life (see karma in Hinduism ). One must accept suffering as a just consequence and as an opportunity for spiritual progress. Thus

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6968-466: The brain emulation of sentient animals. a. Quote: "The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to exhibit intentional behaviors. Consequently, the weight of evidence indicates that humans are not unique in possessing

7102-402: The mind and consciousness, such as creativity , intelligence , sapience , self-awareness , and intentionality (the ability to have thoughts about something). These further features of consciousness may not be necessary for sentience, which is the capacity to feel sensations and emotions. According to Thomas Nagel in his paper " What Is It Like to Be a Bat? ", consciousness can refer to

7236-465: The pain overlap theory takes note, thanks to neuroimaging studies, that the cingulate cortex fires up when the brain feels suffering from experimentally induced social distress, as well as physical pain. The theory proposes therefore that physical pain and social pain (i.e. two radically differing kinds of suffering) share a common phenomenological and neurological basis. According to David Pearce 's online manifesto "The Hedonistic Imperative", suffering

7370-414: The "creation of a new and vigorous academic discipline, called panetics, to be devoted to the study of the infliction of suffering", The International Society for Panetics was founded in 1991 to study and develop ways to reduce the infliction of human suffering by individuals acting through professions, corporations, governments, and other social groups. In economics, the following notions relate not only to

7504-468: The AI system excels at this, providing answers to challenging topics about the nature of emotions , generating Aesop -style fables on cue, and even describing its alleged fears. Nick Bostrom considers that while LaMDA is probably not sentient, being very sure of it would require understanding how consciousness works, having access to unpublished information about LaMDA's architecture, and finding how to apply

7638-757: The Center on Reducing Suffering, has a similar focus, with a stress on clarifying what priorities there should be at a practical level to attain the goal of reducing intense suffering in the future. 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

7772-573: The EU and its member states to "pay full regards to the welfare requirements of animals". Nociception is the process by which the nervous system detects and responds to potentially harmful stimuli, leading to the sensation of pain . It involves specialized receptors called nociceptors that sense damage or threat and send signals to the brain. Nociception is widespread among animals, even among insects. The presence of nociception indicates an organism's ability to detect harmful stimuli. A further question

7906-676: The Epicurean philosopher Philodemus or his teacher Zeno of Sidon along with fragments of works by Epicurus himself. Diogenes of Oenoanda , a wealthy Epicurean in the 2nd century CE, had a portico wall inscribed with tenets of the philosophy erected in Oenoanda , Lycia (present day Turkey). Epicureanism flourished in the Late Hellenistic era and during the Roman era, and many Epicurean communities were established in places such as Antioch , Alexandria , Rhodes , and Herculaneum . By

8040-565: The Epicurean philosophers' practice of publishing summaries and outlines of their teachings for easy memorization. However, they are so concise and short that it's difficult to understand them in depth without the context of additional commentaries and writings by ancient sources or by modern Epicurean practitioners, whenever possible.They are often cited as "PDs" in English. Some of the Principal Doctrines are organized into groups and are meant to be studied together. The first four doctrines make up

8174-582: The Stoic, Platonist and Aristotelian traditions. To Epicureans all our social relations are a matter of how we perceive each other, of customs and traditions. No one is inherently of higher value or meant to dominate another. That is because there is no metaphysical basis for the superiority of one kind of person, all people are made of the same atomic material and are thus naturally equal. Epicureans also discourage political participation and other involvement in politics. However Epicureans are not apolitical , it

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8308-566: The Tetrapharmakos (Four Cures). PD's 10-13 discuss the Epicurean philosophy of science. PD's 18-21 explain the natural limits of desires and in time, and how the flesh is unable to learn these limits but the mind can. PD's 22-25 deal with the importance of the canon, or the Epicurean standard of truth. PD's 31-38 explain the Epicurean doctrines on justice based on mutual advantage and contractarianism. PD's 39-40 call for an intimate society of friends. Tetrapharmakos, or "The four-part cure",

8442-479: The Western world these are typically made by juries in a discretionary fashion and are regarded as subjective, variable, and difficult to predict, for instance in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. See also, in US law, Negligent infliction of emotional distress and Intentional infliction of emotional distress . In management and organization studies, drawing on the work of Eric Cassell , suffering has been defined as

8576-648: The ability of any entity to have subjective perceptual experiences, or as some philosophers refer to them, " qualia "—in other words, the ability to have states that it feels like something to be in. Some philosophers, notably Colin McGinn , believe that the physical process causing consciousness to happen will never be understood, a position known as " new mysterianism ". They do not deny that most other aspects of consciousness are subject to scientific investigation but they argue that qualia will never be explained. Other philosophers, such as Daniel Dennett , argue that qualia

8710-486: The ability to experience conscious states with negative affective valence (i.e. suffering). Animal welfare and rights advocates often invoke similar capacities. For example, the documentary Earthlings argues that while animals do not have all the desires and ability to comprehend as do humans, they do share the desires for food and water, shelter and companionship, freedom of movement and avoidance of pain. Animal-welfare advocates typically argue that any sentient being

8844-471: The absence of a direct equivalent of the neocortex in their brain, was used as an argument against sentience. Jennifer Jacquet suggests that the belief that fish do not feel pain originated in response to a 1980s policy aimed at banning catch and release . The range of animals regarded by scientists as sentient or conscious has progressively widened, now including animals such as fish, lobsters and octopus. Digital sentience (or artificial sentience) means

8978-411: The absence of pain in the body and of trouble in the soul. It is not by an unbroken succession of drinking bouts and of revelry, not by sexual lust, nor the enjoyment of fish and other delicacies of a luxurious table, which produce a pleasant life; it is sober reasoning, searching out the grounds of every choice and avoidance, and banishing those beliefs through which the greatest tumults take possession of

9112-481: The act was initially unnoticed because of possibly being caught and punished. Both punishment and fear of punishment would cause a person disturbance and prevent them from being happy. Epicurus was also an early thinker to develop the notion of justice as a social contract , and in part attempts to address issues with the society described in Plato 's Republic . The social contract theory established by Epicureanism

9246-624: The aspects of security and safety , which relate to precautionary measures taken by individuals or families, to interventions by the military, the police, the firefighters, and to notions or fields like social security , environmental security , and human security . The nongovernmental research organization Center on Long-Term Risk, formerly known as the Foundational Research Institute, focuses on reducing risks of astronomical suffering (s-risks) from emerging technologies. Another organization also focused on research,

9380-506: The atoms joined together. Without the swerve, the atoms would never have interacted with each other, and simply continued to move downwards at the same speed. Epicurus also felt that the swerve was what accounted for humanity's free will. If it were not for the swerve, humans would be subject to a never-ending chain of cause and effect. This was a point which Epicureans often used to criticize Democritus ' atomic theory . Epicurean philosophy employs an empirical epistemology, one based on

9514-580: The basic right not to be treated as the property of others." Andrew Linzey , a British theologian , considers that Christianity should regard sentient animals according to their intrinsic worth, rather than their utility to humans. In 1997 the concept of animal sentience was written into the basic law of the European Union. The legally binding protocol annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam recognises that animals are "sentient beings", and requires

9648-459: The basis of a satisfying life. The avoidance or freedom from hardship and fear is ideal to the Epicureans. While this avoidance or freedom could conceivably be achieved through political means, it was insisted by Epicurus that involvement in politics would not release one from fear and he advised against a life of politics. Epicurus also discouraged contributing to political society by starting

9782-474: The bodies would not have stayed anywhere but would have been dispersed in their course through the infinite void, not having any supports or counterchecks to send them back on their upward rebound. Again, if the void were finite, the infinity of bodies would not have anywhere to be. Because of the infinite supply of atoms, there are an infinite number of worlds, or cosmoi . Some of these worlds could be vastly different from our own, some quite similar, and all of

9916-416: The body and pleasures of the mind . Pleasures of the body involve sensations of the body, such as the act of eating delicious food or of being in a state of comfort free from pain, and exist only in the present. One can only experience pleasures of the body in the moment, meaning they only exist as a person is experiencing them. Pleasures of the mind involve mental processes and states; feelings of joy,

10050-407: The body. Emphasis was placed on pleasures of the mind rather than on physical pleasures. The Epicureans further divided each of these types of pleasures into two categories: kinetic pleasure and katastematic pleasure . Absence of pain, aponia , and lack of disturbance of mind, ataraxia , are two of the katastematic pleasures and often seen as the focal ones to Epicurus . Kinetic pleasure

10184-489: The claims made about Google 's LaMDA ( Language Model for Dialogue Applications) artificial intelligence system that it is "sentient" and had a " soul ". LaMDA is an artificial intelligence system that creates chatbots —AI robots designed to communicate with humans—by gathering vast amounts of text from the internet and using algorithms to respond to queries in the most fluid and natural way possible. The transcripts of conversations between scientists and LaMDA reveal that

10318-589: The concept is related to the Bodhisattva , an enlightened being devoted to the liberation of others. The first vow of a Bodhisattva states, "Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to free them." Sentience has been a central concept in the animal rights movement, tracing back to the well-known writing of Jeremy Bentham in An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation : "The question

10452-564: The concept of 'total pain' ('total suffering' say now the textbooks), which encompasses the whole set of physical and mental distress, discomfort, symptoms, problems, or needs that a patient may experience hurtfully. Gary Greenberg, in The Book of Woe , writes that mental illness might best be viewed as medicalization or labeling/naming suffering (i.e. that all mental illnesses might not necessarily be of dysfunction or biological-etiology, but might be social or cultural/societal). Since suffering

10586-508: The disaster; (...) Social suffering , according to Arthur Kleinman and others, describes "collective and individual human suffering associated with life conditions shaped by powerful social forces". Such suffering is an increasing concern in medical anthropology, ethnography, mass media analysis, and Holocaust studies, says Iain Wilkinson, who is developing a sociology of suffering. The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential

10720-419: The distress a person experiences when they perceive a threat to any aspect of their continued existence, whether physical, psychological, or social. Other researchers have noted that suffering results from an inability to control actions that usually define one's view of one's self and that the characteristics of suffering include the loss of autonomy, or the loss of valued relationships or sense of self. Suffering

10854-465: The doctrine of hedonistic utilitarianism. Karl Popper , in The Open Society and Its Enemies , proposed a negative utilitarianism , which prioritizes the reduction of suffering over the enhancement of happiness when speaking of utility: "I believe that there is, from the ethical point of view, no symmetry between suffering and happiness, or between pain and pleasure. ... human suffering makes

10988-715: The dog is indeed experiencing something unpleasant." Avoiding painful stimuli unless the reward is significant can also provide evidence that pain avoidance is not merely an unconscious reflex (similarly to how humans "can choose to press a hot door handle to escape a burning building"). Animals such as pigs , chickens , and fish are typically recognized as sentient. There is more uncertainty regarding insects , and findings on certain insect species may not be applicable to others. Historically, fish were not considered sentient, and their behaviors were often viewed as "reflexes or complex, unconscious species-typical responses" to their environment. Their dissimilarity with humans, including

11122-680: The emerging scientific fields that could in the coming years focus their attention on the phenomenon of suffering. Disease and injury may contribute to suffering in humans and animals. For example, suffering may be a feature of mental or physical illness such as borderline personality disorder and occasionally in advanced cancer . Health care addresses this suffering in many ways, in subfields such as medicine , clinical psychology , psychotherapy , alternative medicine , hygiene , public health , and through various health care providers . Health care approaches to suffering, however, remain problematic. Physician and author Eric Cassell, widely cited on

11256-439: The error arises from our judgments about the input. For example, when one places a straight oar in the water, it appears bent. The Epicurean would argue that the image of the oar, that is, the atoms traveling from the oar to the observer's eyes, has been shifted and thus really does arrive at the observer's eyes in the shape of a bent oar. The observer makes the error in assuming that the image he or she receives correctly represents

11390-400: The existence of evil: a quintessential form of evil, for many people, is extreme suffering, especially in innocent children, or in creatures destined to an eternity of torments (see problem of hell ). The ' Four Noble Truths ' of Buddhism are about dukkha , a term often translated as suffering. They state the nature of suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation,

11524-415: The existence of the gods; rather it denies their involvement in the world. According to Epicureanism, the gods do not interfere with human lives or the rest of the universe in any way – thus, it shuns the idea that frightening weather events are divine retribution. One of the fears the Epicurean ought to be freed from is fear relating to the actions of the gods. The manner in which the Epicurean gods exist

11658-504: The following instances: ISBN   0-19-504996-9 Sentience Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness , reasoning , or complex thought processes. Sentience is an important concept in ethics , as the ability to experience happiness or suffering often forms a basis for determining which entities deserve moral consideration , particularly in utilitarianism . In Asian religions,

11792-429: The following: consolation or relief; moral conduct (do no harm, help the afflicted, show compassion ); spiritual advancement through life hardships or through self-imposed trials ( mortification of the flesh , penance , asceticism ); ultimate destiny ( salvation , damnation , hell ). Theodicy deals with the problem of evil , which is the difficulty of reconciling the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent god with

11926-415: The gods are completely separate from the rest of reality; they are uninterested in it, play no role in it, and remain completely undisturbed by it. Instead, the gods live in what is called the metakosmia , or the space between worlds. Contrarily, the idealist (sometimes called the "non-realist position" to avoid confusion) position holds that the gods are just idealized forms of the best human life, and it

12060-423: The greatest pleasure a person could reach was the complete removal of all pain, both physical and mental. The ultimate goal then of Epicurean ethics was to reach a state of aponia and ataraxia . I learn that your bodily inclination leans most keenly towards sexual intercourse. If you neither violate the laws nor disturb well established morals nor sadden someone close to you, nor strain your body, nor spend what

12194-418: The greatest pleasure lies in ataraxia , free from the worrisome pursuit or the unwelcome consequences of ephemeral pleasures. Epicureanism 's version of Hedonism , as an ethical theory, claims that good and bad consist ultimately in pleasure and pain. For Stoicism , the greatest good lies in reason and virtue, but the soul best reaches it through a kind of indifference ( apatheia ) to pleasure and pain: as

12328-475: The highest form of happiness. Unnecessary and, especially, artificially produced desires were to be suppressed. It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and well and justly without living a pleasant life. The Epicurean understanding of justice was inherently self-interested. Justice was deemed good because it was seen as mutually beneficial. Individuals would not act unjustly even if

12462-459: The historian) was written as an introduction to Epicurean philosophy and method of studying nature. It included the most complete detail of the ancient conversations that led to the development of atomist theory, a doctrine of innumerable worlds, and an explanation of the phenomenon of time that posits an early form of relativism. Epicurus' Letter to Herodotus appears to be a summary of On Nature , books I–XIII. Epicurus' Letter to Pythocles

12596-400: The lack of fear, and pleasant memories are all examples of pleasures of the mind. These pleasures of the mind do not only exist in the present, but also in the past and future, since memory of a past pleasant experience or the expectation of some potentially pleasing future can both be pleasurable experiences. Because of this, the pleasures of the mind are considered to be greater than those of

12730-677: The late 3rd century CE, Epicureanism all but died out, being opposed by other philosophies (mainly Neoplatonism ) that were then in the ascent. Interest in Epicureanism was resurrected in the Age of Enlightenment and continues in the modern era. Epicurus taught and gained followers in Mytilene , the capital of the island Lesbos , and then in Lampsacus . In Athens , Epicurus bought a property for his school called "Garden", which later became

12864-433: The later Roman Empire . Deciphered carbonized scrolls obtained from the library at the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum contain a large number of works by Philodemus , a late Hellenistic Epicurean, and Epicurus himself, attesting to the school's enduring popularity. Julius Caesar also leaned considerably toward Epicureanism, which led to his plea against the death sentence during the trial against Catiline , during

12998-413: The lives of sentient beings in numerous manners, often dramatically. As a result, many fields of human activity are concerned 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. The word suffering is sometimes used in

13132-504: The matters suggested by their positive appellations, but to the matter of suffering as well: Well-being or Quality of life , Welfare economics , Happiness economics , Gross National Happiness , genuine progress indicator . In law, " Pain and suffering " is a legal term that refers to the mental distress or physical pain endured by a plaintiff as a result of injury for which the plaintiff seeks redress. Assessments of pain and suffering are required to be made for attributing legal awards. In

13266-400: The mind" ( phantastikai epibolai tês dianoias ) was said to have been added by later Epicureans. These criteria formed the method through which Epicureans thought we gained knowledge. Since Epicureans thought that sensations could not deceive, sensations are the first and main criterion of truth for Epicureans. Even in cases where sensory input seems to mislead, the input itself is true and

13400-399: The mind" may have been introduced to explain how we learn about things that we cannot directly perceive, such as the gods. Epicureanism bases its ethics on a hedonistic set of values, seeing pleasure as the chief good in life. Hence, Epicurus advocated living in such a way as to derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during one's lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid

13534-479: The moral status of a being comes from its ability to feel pleasure and pain: therefore, moral agents should consider not only the interests of human beings but also those of (other) animals. Richard Ryder came to the same conclusion in his concepts of ' speciesism ' and 'painism' . Peter Singer 's writings, especially the book Animal Liberation , represent the leading edge of this kind of utilitarianism for animals as well as for people. Another doctrine related to

13668-459: The name of Epicurus' school. Its members included Hermarchus , Idomeneus , Colotes , Polyaenus , and Metrodorus . Epicurus emphasized friendship as an important ingredient of happiness, and the school seems to have been a moderately ascetic community which rejected the political limelight of Athenian philosophy. They were fairly cosmopolitan by Athenian standards, including women and slaves. Community activities held some importance, particularly

13802-511: The narrow sense of physical pain , but more often it refers to psychological pain , or more often yet it refers 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

13936-445: The nature of the physical world, i.e. that that which exists cannot come into being from that which does not exist, that which is destroyed does not cease to exist, and all that exists now always did exist and always will. The object of these principles was to establish the fact that all that constitutes the world is permanent and unchanging. Epicurean physics held that the entire universe consisted of two things: matter and void. Matter

14070-401: The neurological substrates that generate consciousness. Non-human animals, including all mammals and birds, and many other creatures, including octopuses, also possess these neurological substrates." b. Quote: "Granted, these animals do not have all the desires we humans have; granted, they do not comprehend everything we humans comprehend; nevertheless, we and they do have some of

14204-615: The number of senses it has. Water, for example, is a sentient being of the first order, as it is considered to possess only one sense, that of touch. Sentience in Buddhism is the state of having senses. In Buddhism, there are six senses, the sixth being the subjective experience of the mind. Sentience is simply awareness prior to the arising of Skandha . Thus, an animal qualifies as a sentient being. According to Buddhism, sentient beings made of pure consciousness are possible. In Mahayana Buddhism, which includes Zen and Tibetan Buddhism ,

14338-464: The oar and has not been distorted in some way. In order to not make erroneous judgments about perceivable things and instead verify one's judgment, Epicureans believed that one needed to obtain "clear vision" ( enargeia ) of the perceivable thing by closer examination. This acted as a justification for one's judgements about the thing being perceived. Enargeia is characterized as sensation of an object that has been unchanged by judgments or opinions and

14472-400: The observance of Eikas , a monthly social gathering. Some members were also vegetarians as, from slight evidence, Epicurus did not eat meat, although no prohibition against eating meat was made. The school's popularity grew and it became, along with Stoicism , Platonism , Peripateticism , and Pyrrhonism , one of the dominant schools of Hellenistic philosophy , lasting strongly through

14606-427: The organization of meaning in an individual's world and psyche. In turn, meaning determines how individuals or societies experience and deal with suffering. Many brain structures and physiological processes are involved in suffering (particularly the anterior insula and cingulate cortex , both implicated in nociceptive and empathic pain). Various hypotheses try to account for the experience of suffering. One of these,

14740-639: The paths of planetary bodies through space. In Epicurus' time, long before any modern technological advances such as microscopes or telescopes which allow us to establish greater knowledge of these phenomena, these were all examples of things that, as far as the limits of human knowledge extended, it was impossible to establish certainty with regards to their causes, or how they occurred. Epicurus elaborates on how one may reason regarding such things so as to come to reasonable conclusions without undue certainty, so as to maintain Ataraxia . Epicurus' Letter to Menoeceus

14874-480: The philosophical theory to the machine. He also said about LLMs that "it's not doing them justice to say they're simply regurgitating text", noting that they "exhibit glimpses of creativity, insight and understanding that are quite impressive and may show the rudiments of reasoning". He thinks that "sentience is a matter of degree". In 2022, philosopher David Chalmers made a speech on whether large language models (LLMs) can be conscious, encouraging more research on

15008-489: The pursuit of pleasure, also known as the hedonic theory of motivation or the pleasure principle . This dogma also ties in with certain concepts of Behaviorism , most notably Operant Conditioning theory . In operant conditioning, a negative stimulus is removed thereby increasing a desired behavior, alternatively an aversive stimulus can be introduced as a punishing factor. In both methods, unfavorable circumstances are used in order to motivate an individual or an animal towards

15142-515: The relief of suffering is humanitarianism (see also humanitarian principles , humanitarian aid , and humane society ). "Where humanitarian efforts seek a positive addition to the happiness of sentient beings, it is to make the unhappy happy rather than the happy happier. ... [Humanitarianism] is an ingredient in many social attitudes; in the modern world it has so penetrated into diverse movements ... that it can hardly be said to exist in itself." Pessimists hold this world to be mainly bad, or even

15276-434: The remedy of art . This Bruegel painting is among those that inspired W. H. Auden's poem Musée des Beaux Arts : About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters; how well, they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; (...) In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from

15410-469: The same desires and do comprehend some of the same things. The desires for food and water, shelter and companionship, freedom of movement and avoidance of pain." Epicureanism Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus , an ancient Greek philosopher . Epicurus was an atomist and materialist , following in the steps of Democritus . His materialism led him to religious skepticism and

15544-404: The same speed naturally downwards in relation to the rest of the world. This downwards motion is natural for atoms; however, as their fourth means of motion, atoms can at times randomly swerve out of their usual downwards path. This swerving motion is what allowed for the creation of the universe, since as more and more atoms swerved and collided with each other, objects were able to take shape as

15678-497: The senses. Epicureans believed that senses also relied on atoms. Every object was continually emitting particles from itself that would then interact with the observer. All sensations, such as sight, smell, or sound, relied on these particles. While the atoms that were emitted did not have the qualities that the senses were perceiving, the manner in which they were emitted caused the observer to experience those sensations, e.g. red particles were not themselves red but were emitted in

15812-523: The sensory dimension, as for instance in this sentence: "Pain-unpleasantness is often, though not always, closely linked to both the intensity and unique qualities of the painful sensation." Other current words that have a definition with some similarity to suffering include distress, unhappiness, misery, affliction, woe, ill, discomfort, displeasure, disagreeableness . Many of the Hellenistic philosophies addressed suffering. In Cynicism suffering

15946-704: The sentience of artificial intelligences . The question of whether artificial intelligences can be sentient is controversial. The AI research community does not consider sentience (that is, the "ability to feel sensations") as an important research goal, unless it can be shown that consciously "feeling" a sensation can make a machine more intelligent than just receiving input from sensors and processing it as information. Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig wrote in 2021: "We are interested in programs that behave intelligently. Individual aspects of consciousness—awareness, self-awareness, attention—can be programmed and can be part of an intelligent machine. The additional project making

16080-455: The soul or true self, which is eternally free of any suffering, may come to manifest itself in the person, who then achieves liberation ( moksha ). Abstinence from causing pain or harm to other beings, called ahimsa , is a central tenet of Hinduism, and even more so of another Indian religion, Jainism (see ahimsa in Jainism ). In Judaism, suffering is often seen as a punishment for sins and

16214-415: The soul. Epicureans had a very specific understanding of what the greatest pleasure was, and the focus of their ethics was on the avoidance of pain rather than seeking out pleasure. As evidence for this, Epicureans say that nature seems to command us to avoid pain, and they point out that all animals try to avoid pain as much as possible. Epicureanism divided pleasure into two broad categories: pleasures of

16348-431: The state of not being thirsty, or mental, such as freedom from a state of fear. Complete physical katastematic pleasure is called aponia , and complete mental katastematic pleasure is called ataraxia . While the pursuit of pleasure formed the focal point of the philosophy, this was largely directed to the "static pleasures" of minimizing pain, anxiety and suffering. From this understanding, Epicureans concluded that

16482-443: The subject of attending to the suffering person as a primary goal of medicine, has defined suffering as "the state of severe distress associated with events that threaten the intactness of the person". Cassell writes: "The obligation of physicians to relieve human suffering stretches back to antiquity. Despite this fact, little attention is explicitly given to the problem of suffering in medical education, research or practice." Mirroring

16616-429: The subject. He suggested that current LLMs were probably not conscious, but that the limitations are temporary and that future systems could be serious candidates for consciousness. According to Jonathan Birch , "measures to regulate the development of sentient AI should run ahead of what would be proportionate to the risks posed by current technology, considering also the risks posed by credible future trajectories." He

16750-399: The suffering incurred by overindulgence in such pleasure. Epicurus actively recommended against passionate love, and believed it best to avoid marriage altogether. He viewed recreational sex as a natural, but not necessary, desire that should be generally avoided. Since the political life could give rise to desires that could disturb virtue and one's peace of mind, such as a lust for power or

16884-423: The suffering of life is productive, exalting the will to power , despising weak compassion or pity, and recommending us to embrace willfully the ' eternal return ' of the greatest sufferings. Philosophy of pain is a philosophical speciality that focuses on physical pain and is, through that, relevant to suffering in general. Suffering plays an important role in a number of religions, regarding matters such as

17018-462: The theoretical computational limit of the entire universe. On a logarithmic scale it runs from −70 up to +50. Eastern religions including Hinduism , Buddhism , Sikhism , and Jainism recognise non-humans as sentient beings. The term sentient beings is translated from various Sanskrit terms ( jantu, bahu jana, jagat, sattva ) and "conventionally refers to the mass of living things subject to illusion, suffering, and rebirth ( Saṃsāra )". It

17152-608: The things that we perceive. Preconceptions were also used by Epicureans to avoid the paradox proposed by Plato in the Meno regarding learning. Plato argues that learning requires us to already have knowledge of what we are learning, or else we would be unable to recognize when we had successfully learned the information. Preconceptions, Epicureans argue, provide individuals with that pre-knowledge required for learning. Our feelings or emotions ( pathê ) are how we perceive pleasure and pain. They are analogous to sensations in that they are

17286-540: The traditional body and mind dichotomy that underlies its teaching and practice, medicine strongly distinguishes pain from suffering, and most attention goes to the treatment of pain. Nevertheless, physical pain itself still lacks adequate attention from the medical community, according to numerous reports. Besides, some medical fields like palliative care , pain management (or pain medicine) , oncology , or psychiatry , do somewhat address suffering 'as such'. In palliative care, for instance, pioneer Cicely Saunders created

17420-425: The universe would be essentially destroyed. Epicurus holds that there must be an infinite supply of atoms, although only a finite number of types of atoms, as well as an infinite amount of void. Epicurus explains this position in his letter to Herodotus: Moreover, the sum of things is unlimited both by reason of the multitude of the atoms and the extent of the void. For if the void were infinite and bodies finite,

17554-418: The word "sentience" has been used to translate a variety of concepts. In science fiction , the word "sentience" is sometimes used interchangeably with " sapience ", " self-awareness ", or " consciousness ". Some writers differentiate between the mere ability to perceive sensations, such as light or pain, and the ability to perceive emotions , such as fear or grief . The subjective awareness of experiences by

17688-409: The worlds were separated from each other by vast areas of void ( metakosmia ). Epicureanism states that atoms are unable to be broken down into any smaller parts because void is necessary for matter to move. Anything which consists of both void and matter can be broken down, while if something contains no void then it has no way to break apart because no part of the substance could be broken down into

17822-477: The worst possible, plagued with, among other things, unbearable and unstoppable suffering. Some identify suffering as the nature of the world and conclude that it would be better if life did not exist at all. Arthur Schopenhauer recommends us to take refuge in things like art, philosophy, loss of the will to live , and tolerance toward 'fellow-sufferers'. Friedrich Nietzsche , first influenced by Schopenhauer, developed afterward quite another attitude, arguing that

17956-416: Was introduced by Robert A. Freitas Jr. in the late 1970s. It defines sentience as the relationship between the information processing rate of each individual processing unit (neuron), the weight/size of a single unit, and the total number of processing units (expressed as mass). It was proposed as a measure for the sentience of all living beings and computers from a single neuron up to a hypothetical being at

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