Douleur et science médicale dans quelques pages du Discorso sull’indole del piacere e del dolore et des Osservazioni sulla tortura de Pietro Verri

In his Discourse on the Nature of Pleasure and Pain (1781) and his Observations on Torture (1777) Pietro Verri questions the nature and function of pain according to the epistemological context of his age but also on the base of his limited but solid medical knowledge. He tries to assimilate physical pain within the moral and psychic dimension of human existence. Pain is considered as a negative but necessary form of energy leading humankind to the formulation of a social contract based on the universal essence of physical suffering.