[ExI] Circumcision

[BillK]

On 14 June 2016 at 21:25, Anders wrote:
> Pain and suffering are different things: one is a sensory stimulus, the
> other is the aversive emotional reaction (which can be triggered by non-pain
> stimuli too). Pain is not bad in itself, but one can make a case that
> suffering is something that is inherently bad.
>
> If one argues suffering is inherently bad, then even forgotten suffering is
> a bad thing. At least it made the world worse when it was occurring.
>
> Remembered suffering is not obviously as bad as experiencing suffering: at
> least pain cannot be remembered vividly (you don't flinch from remembering a
> bad toothache or an injury, even though it is still unpleasant to remember -
> compare that to remembering something truly disgusting: you feel similar
> disgust again). Suffering, being a strong inducer of neural plasticity, can
> of course change behavior and outlook in important ways. But not all such
> changes are bad ones.
>
> So I would argue that instantaneous suffering matters morally. Just as
> instantaneous pleasure does. However, the time-bound forms of suffering or
> happiness have potential for *meaning*. That adds another dimension that can
> be far more important. Living a life of amnesiac bliss might not be as good
> as a long dramatic struggle to make the world better.
>


Remembered suffering = PTSD and that ruins lives.

PTSD victims would welcome amnesia.

BillK