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The philosopher Sabrina Coninx is concerned with how we experience pain and cope with it. She conducts research at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and tries to understand what influences human suffering, such as chronic pain.
TIME ONLINE: Ms. Coninx, why does a philosopher concern herself with pain? Isn’t that the job of medicine?
Sabrina Coninx: Not only that, because philosophy takes a different perspective on pain and questions fundamental assumptions. In medicine, it is sometimes overlooked how complex pain experiences are. It says: On a scale of zero to ten, how bad is your pain? Often only the intensity is recorded. Then the search begins for physical causes and solutions.