Pain, paradox and polysemy

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9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The paradox of pain refers to the idea that the folk concept of pain is paradoxical, treating pains as simultaneously mental states and bodily states (as described in papers by Hill and Borg et al.). By taking a close look at our pain terms, this paper argues that there is no paradox of pain. The air of paradox dissolves once we recognize that pain terms are polysemous and that there are two separate but related concepts of pain rather than one.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)461-470
Number of pages10
JournalAnalysis
Volume81
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • pain terms
  • paradox of pain
  • polysemy

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