What the Body Commands: The Imperative Theory of Pain (First Edition)

Klein, Colin

ISBN 10: 0262029707 / ISBN 13: 9780262029704

Published by The MIT Press, 2015

About this Item

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2015. First edition, first printing, with full number line including the 1. Hardcover. Black boards with silver spine lettering. Very Fine in a very fine dust jacket. Comes with archival-quality mylar dust jacket protector. A tight clean copy. Octavo, 210 pages, with index. The book develops Klein s imperative theory of pain, proposing that pain serves as a command that directs attention and action, rather than as a mere signal or indicator of damage; it combines philosophical argument with evidence from neuroscience and psychology. Klein, an Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist, is known for his work on the philosophy of mind, pain, and consciousness; this was his first book.

Seller Inventory # Ferry-University-Press-MIT

Bibliographic Details

• Title: What the Body Commands: The Imperative Theory of Pain (First Edition)
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262029707
• ISBN 13: 9780262029704
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy

About this title

Synopsis

A novel theory of pain, according to which pains are imperatives—commands issued by the body, ordering you to protect the injured part.

In What the Body Commands, Colin Klein proposes and defends a novel theory of pain. Klein argues that pains are imperative; they are sensations with a content, and that content is a command to protect the injured part of the body. He terms this view “imperativism about pain,” and argues that imperativism can account for two puzzling features of pain: its strong motivating power and its uninformative nature. Klein argues that the biological purpose of pain is homeostatic; like hunger and thirst, pain helps solve a challenge to bodily integrity. It does so by motivating you to act in ways that help the body recover. If you obey pain's command, you get better (in ordinary circumstances). He develops his account to handle a variety of pain phenomena and applies it to solve a number of historically puzzling cases. Klein's intent is to defend the imperativist view in a pure form—without requiring pain to represent facts about the world.

Klein presents a model of imperative content showing that intrinsically motivating sensations are best understood as imperatives, and argues that pain belongs to this class. He considers the distinction between pain and suffering; explains how pain motivates; addresses variations among pains; and offers an imperativist account of maladaptive pains, pains that don't appear to hurt, masochism, and why pain feels bad.

About the Author

Colin Klein is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at Macquarie University, Australia, an Associate Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, and an ARC Future Fellow.