﻿CONSCIOUSNESS AND PAIN 



that plants also feel? I venture to say that 

 they do feel, and that the mandrake, or any 

 other plant, is really hurt when pulled forcibly 

 from the ground, suffering its modicum of 

 pain, although unaccompanied by signs that 

 make the fact patent to our senses. If a plant 

 can feel a bodily hurt, it must necessarily pos- 

 sess consciousness, for pain without conscious- 

 ness is inconceivable. Hence the thesis : all 

 living organisms, whether animal or plant, 

 are capable of conscious pain to a degree com- 

 mensurate with the requirements of their 

 nature. 



At the outset it must be clearly recognized ^ . . 

 that the word consciousness, as used in this 



connection, contains no reference to self-con- 

 sciousness, which implies introspection. Self- 

 consciousness, it may be said in passing, is 

 necessary that the individual may, for in- 

 stance, be aware of its own identity, or may 

 reflect upon a given sensation, which powers 

 belong, undoubtedly, not to all classes of be- 

 ings, but only to the more highly organized, 

 and especially to those with a centralized ner- 

 vous system. 



General consciousness, on the other hand, 

 implies a recognition of the impact of stimuli; 

 the individual knows that the uniformity of 

 the conditions of its existence is disturbed, 

 sometimes pleasurably, sometimes painfully. 



consciousness 



