"Cortex necessary for pain — but not in sense that matters" by Adam J. Shriver

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Citation

Shriver, Adam J. (2016) Cortex necessary for pain — but not in sense that matters. Animal Sentience 3(27)

Author Website

https://upenn.academia.edu/AdamShriver

Commentary Type

Invited Commentary

Thread

Brian Key, Why fish do not feel pain

Abstract

Certain cortical regions are necessary for pain in humans in the sense that, at particular times, they play a direct role in pain. However, it is not true that they are necessary in the more important sense that pain is never possible in humans without them. There are additional details from human lesion studies concerning functional plasticity that undermine Key’s (2016) interpretation. Moreover, no one has yet identified any specific behaviors that mammalian cortical pain regions make possible that are absent in fish.

Author Biography

Adam Shriver ashriver@mail.med.upenn.edu is a fellow at the Center for Neuroscience and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He is an ethicist and a philosopher of cognitive science who studies the neuroscience of affective states that contribute to subjective well-being. http://medicalethics.med.upenn.edu/people/administration/adam-shriver

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1051

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