| Title of the article: |
Philosophy of suffering and praxisof modern culture |
| Author(s): |
LEBEDEV V. YU., FEDOROV A. V. |
| Section: |
Philosophy and Culturology |
| Year: |
2014 |
| Issue: |
31 |
| Pages: |
48-58 |
| Index UDK: |
1(128) |
| Index BBK: |
87.6 |
| Abstract: |
Philosophical evaluation of suffering is integral to the study of a particular cultural practice in which case the philosophical speculation is brought into line with cultural realia. Anguish is a specific instance of suffering, particularly the anguish suf- fered by incurable patients. This anguish is inseparable from the process of quietus as such, which makes it possible to refer different types of pain to different stages of transition (Arnold van Gennep). The experience of dying combined with suffering and anguish places the patient under a unique condition which requires not only a new personal evaluation but some aid from the outside as the sense of detacment from the world of living is acutely felt by such patients. Anguish can be interpreted as a vestigial experience of death. Anguish can be treated as a complex phenomenon with physiologi- cal, psychological and existential aspects to it. The perception of pain depends on both cultural practices, including medicine, and personal attitude of a patient. For religious people the perception of pain is necessarily linked with a particular meaning which originates from their relationships with God. It is this relationship that serves to allevi- ate the pain of the final alienation that defeats the doctors. While succeeding in solving some pain-related issues, the contemporary medicalized culture seems to have bred new problems leaving the suffering man alone at the face of the final quest. Terminal pain and terminal suffering change the perception of time, space and communicative stereotypes. Prepared quietus appears to be preferable with religious praxis finding a wider application and ultimately changing the attitude to pain not only as departure from life but also as feeling it as the element of life. |
| Keywords: |
CULTURE, TRANSITION, MEDICALIZATION OF CULTURE, REDUCED EXPERIENCE OF DEATH, SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF MEDICINE |
| Bibliography: |
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