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Does the Golem Feel Pain? Moral Instincts and Ethical Dilemmas Concerning Suffering and the Brain
Author(s) -
Devor Marshall,
Rappaport Isabelle,
Rappaport Z. Harry
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pain practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1533-2500
pISSN - 1530-7085
DOI - 10.1111/papr.12207
Subject(s) - instinct , normative , morality , punishment (psychology) , social psychology , psychology , empathy , perspective (graphical) , utilitarianism , humanism , environmental ethics , epistemology , law , political science , philosophy , evolutionary biology , biology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Pain has variously been used as a means of punishment, extracting information, or testing commitment, as a tool for education and social control, as a commodity for sacrifice, and as a draw for sport and entertainment. Attitudes concerning these uses have undergone major changes in the modern era. Normative convictions on what is right and wrong are generally attributed to religious tradition or to secular‐humanist reasoning. Here, we elaborate the perspective that ethical choices concerning pain have much earlier roots that are based on instincts and brain‐seated empathetic responses. They are fundamentally a function of brain circuitry shaped by processes of Darwinian evolution. Social convention and other environmental influences, with their idiosyncrasies, are a more recent, ever‐changing overlay. We close with an example in which details on the neurobiology of pain processing, specifically the question of where in the brain the experience of pain is generated, affect decision making in end‐of‐life situations. By separating innate biological substrates from culturally imposed attitudes (memes), we may arrive at a more reasoned approach to a morality of pain prevention.