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Scientia et Fides

Is Pain Metaphysically Evil (Malum Simpliciter)? : Some Thoughts from a Thomistic Perspective
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Is Pain Metaphysically Evil (Malum Simpliciter)?

Some Thoughts from a Thomistic Perspective

Authors

  • Mariusz Tabaczek Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6985-8337

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/SetF.2024.008

Keywords

appetite, Aquinas, emotion, evil, pain, passion, suffering, theodicy

Abstract

Contrary to the commonly assumed opinion that Christianity sees pain as intrinsically evil – where evil is defined as the lack of something good – Aquinas defines pain not as a privation but rather a passion of the soul, i.e., an emotion that depends on sensual and/or intellective cognition of something evil, is good in itself, and may serve a purpose. This article offers a formalized version of the Thomistic definition of pain and related negative (unpleasant) emotions experienced by humans. It also compares and contrasts this view with some contemporary scientific and philosophical models of pain.

References

Works of Aquinas

De malo. Quaestiones disputatae de malo. Vol. 23 of Opera Omnia. Rome: Typographia polyglotta, 1982. [English translation: On Evil. Translated by John A. Oesterle and Jean T. Oesterle. South Bend, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995.]

SCG Summa contra gentiles. 3 vols. Turin and Rome: Marietti, 1961–1967. [English translation: On the Truth of the Catholic Faith: Summa Contra Gentiles. 4 vols. Translated by Anton C. Pegis et al. Garden City, New York: Image Books, 1955–1957.]

ST Summa theologiae. Rome: Editiones Paulinae, 1962. [English translation: Summa Theologica. 3 vols. Translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benzinger Bros., 1946.]

Other References

Aydede, Murat. 2019. “Pain.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/pain/.

Bosch, Magdalena. 2020. Desire and Human Flourishing: Perspectives from Positive Psychology, Moral Education and Virtue Ethics. Cham: Springer Nature.

Chignell, Andrew. 2021. “Kinds and Origins of Evil.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2021/entries/evil-kindsorigins/.

Craig, Arthur Devitt. 2003. “A New View of Pain as a Homeostatic Emotion.” Trends in Neurosciences 26, no. 6: 303–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-2236(03)00123-1.

Fiske, John. 1874. Outlines of Cosmic Philosophy: Based on the Doctrine of Evolution, with Criticisms on the Positive Philosophy. Vol. 2. London: MacMillan.

Kane, G. Stanley. 1980. “Evil and Privation.” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 11, no. 1: 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138764.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2019a. “A Thomistic Answer to the Evil-God Challenge.” The Heythrop Journal 60, no. 5: 689–98. https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.13181.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2019b. “God’s Purpose for the Universe and the Problem of Animal Suffering.” Sophia 58, no. 3: 475–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11841-017-0611-z.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2019c. “Neo-Thomism and the Problem of Animal Suffering.” Nova et Vetera 17, no. 1: 93–125. https://doi-org.proxy.library.nd.edu/10.1353/nov.2019.0004.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2020a. “Is Animal Suffering Evil? A Thomistic Perspective.” The Journal of Value Inquiry 54, no. 1: 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-019-09680-x.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2020b. Thomism and the Problem of Animal Suffering. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2022a. Bringing Good Even Out of Evil: Thomism and the Problem of Evil. Lanham: Lexington Books.

Keltz, B. Kyle. 2022b. “Could A Good God Allow Death Before the Fall? A Thomistic Perspective.” The Heythrop Journal 63, no. 4: 703–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.12658.

Klein, Colin. 2015. What the Body Commands: The Imperative Theory of Pain. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Loeser, John D. 1980. “Perspectives on Pain.” In Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, edited by Paul Turner, C. Padgham, and Alan Hedges, 313–16. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lombardo, Nicholas Emerson. 2011. The Logic of Desire: Aquinas on Emotion. Washington, D.C.: CUA Press.

Manzanedo, Marcos F. 2004. Las pasiones según Santo Tomás. Salamanca: Editorial San Esteban.

Marchand, Serge. 2012. The Phenomenon of Pain. Seattle: IASP Press.

Marchand, Serge. 2021. “Mechanisms Challenges of the Pain Phenomenon.” Frontiers in Pain Research 1. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpain.2020.574370.

Robson, Mark Ian Thomas. 2013. “Evil, Privation, Depression and Dread.” New Blackfriars 94, no. 1053: 552–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-2005.2012.01516.x.

Rodriguez, Victorino. 1957. “Presupuestos psicológicos para una moral del dolor,” La Ciencia Tomista, LXIII: 613–639.

Rowe, William L. 1979. “The Problem of Evil and Some Varieties of Atheism.” American Philosophical Quarterly 16, no. 4: 335–41.

Swenson, Adam. 2009. “Pain’s Evils.” Utilitas 21, no. 2: 197–216. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953820809003471.

Scientia et Fides

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Published

2024-04-09

How to Cite

1.
TABACZEK, Mariusz. Is Pain Metaphysically Evil (Malum Simpliciter)? : Some Thoughts from a Thomistic Perspective. Scientia et Fides. Online. 9 April 2024. Vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 143-162. [Accessed 4 July 2025]. DOI 10.12775/SetF.2024.008.
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