ABSTRACT
Suffering is one of the main adaptation tools. It can be used as an advance warning of an even greater suffering. One can learn from it for future actions as well. Emotions and reason are indeed most of the time described as opposing functions, as if rationality necessarily excluded emotions. Yet, many contemporary authors now find emotions to be essential to taking rational decisions. The words used to designate suffering vary from one discipline to the other. Even though this is somewhat of a rough generalization, the word suffering is used more often in the psychology or psychiatry field. As suffering becomes perceived as a social injustice, it appears like a problem to solve. This changes the perspective on its usefulness, its inevitability and its social role. Suffering becomes outside of people, leaving emotions to the individuals who, as people saw in a circular pattern. This eventually opens the way to a sense of powerlessness, to despair and violence.
