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Articles

The Philosophy of Pain

Vikky Leaney says pain is a problem even (or especially) when we can’t see it.

Pain is one of the most paradoxical aspects of human experience: deeply personal, yet profoundly elusive; intangible, yet undeniably real to those who feel it. For people living with fibromyalgia – a chronic condition marked by widespread pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties – this paradox becomes an inescapable reality. Fibromyalgia is often referred to as an ‘invisible illness’ because its symptoms lack visible signs or conventional markers that medical science can easily detect. This invisibility leads to a significant struggle for validation for sufferers, both socially and medically. Yet the challenges of fibromyalgia reach beyond personal experience, to raise philosophical questions that probe the nature of pain, the limits of perception, and the ethical dimensions of empathy.

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