External Pain Posted Wed, 25 Feb 2009

I had an existential experience in my local drug store last night while pondering this sign.

sign for products dealing with "external pain"

What does it mean for pain to be truly external to the person feeling it? Have I ever felt external pain? Is external pain merely another term for empathy? What might products to help with empathy entail? Would my local drug store stock them?

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Responses to This Post

Umh... Confusing, yes. I feel your pain.

OUCH!
Posted by Gunnar at Wed Feb 25 18:33:58 2009
Gunnar: Hah! :)
Posted by Benjamin Mako Hill at Wed Feb 25 20:23:16 2009
well, Elaine Scarry is in your neighbourhood.  You could ask her.  or read The Body In Pain.  I think that might qualify as a product for treating empathy disorders.
Posted by Matt Price at Wed Feb 25 20:57:22 2009
This must be what the sympathetic nervous system is for.
Posted by Daf at Thu Feb 26 03:21:19 2009
Love it.
Posted by Biella at Thu Feb 26 13:08:14 2009
Meaningless :|.A bit confusing yeah.
Posted by Hexacoder at Tue Mar 24 16:47:16 2009
possibly the same painkillers that help you deal with internal pain also help with external pain.

in a less individualistic sense, external pain relievers would be the long tail of things that only make the world a better place.
Posted by Star at Mon Mar 30 01:54:20 2009

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