ABSTRACT
Typical pains are unpleasant and motivational. The relation between pain and emotion is a fruitful area for new perspectives on affective experience. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals, to a greater or lesser extent, with points of comparison and contrast between pain and emotion. It proposes a psychofunctionalist account: a pain is unpleasant in virtue of the 'm-processing' undergone by the sensory information it carries (about bodily states and events). The book looks at another point of comparison between physical and emotional suffering, namely the susceptibility of each to the placebo effect. It focuses on the pains of patients suffering from disorders of consciousness. The book reviews the relationship between pain and bodily ownership. Threats, unlike pain, are essentially tied to sensing the boundaries of one's body.
