Aristotle’s Vocabulary of Pain

Abstract

This paper examines Aristotle’s vocabulary of pain, that is the differences and relations of the concepts of pain expressed by (near-)synonyms in the same semantic field. It investigates what is particularly Aristotelian in the selection of the pain-words in comparison with earlier authors and specifies the special semantic scope of each word-cluster. The result not only aims to pin down the exact way these terms converge with and diverge from each other, but also serves as a basis for further understanding Aristotle’s philosophical conception of pain.

Aristotle on Pain: Pain as hindering the energeia in Nicomachean Ethics

“…However, this word still denotes the relatedness of pain to the psychic and emotional layers of animal life. See Cheng (2018a). See also Cheng (2015, 362-370) The authorities who are criticised hold that "that pain is the lacking of your natural state and pleasure the refilling and the restoring of that natural state" the following formulation: "Socrates: Have we not been told that pleasure is always a process of becoming and that there is no being at all of pleasure?"…”

“…For a broader context of the problem of pain in Aristotle and his ancient commentators, see Cheng (2017Cheng ( , 2018aCheng ( , 2018bCheng ( , and 2019.…”

Aristotle and Eudoxus on the Argument from Contraries

“…11 For this aspect see Natali 2015; also cf. Cheng 2018. I think they are real problems that the traditional reading cannot easily overcome. Yet, I do not consequently think that we should follow Alexander in being sensitive to the polysemy of the contrariety itself at the expense of erasing Aristotle's dialectical concern in unfolding and defending his standpoint.…”