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The Meanings of

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by STAN VAN HOOFT uffering is one of the most profound and dis- turbing of human experiences. The very word Ssuffering has a resonance that relates to our Western thinkers have usually falsified our sense of life’s meaning and the threat suffering poses to our hopes of happiness. It does not refer experience of suffering in trying to make just to maladies, pains, and difficulties with which sense of it. In a postmodern age, their we can and should cope. It involves crises and threats that constitute a degradation or alienation accounts seem implausible. We need a of our being.1 It is the spiritual dimension of our existence or the “contemplative” aspect of our way of making sense of suffering while being, to use ’s term, not only the bodily admitting its horror. aspects of our selves, that is implicated in suffering.

Stan van Hooft, “The Meanings of Suffering,” Hastings Center Report 28, no. 5 (1998): 13-19.

September-October 1998 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT 13 Suffering is a spiritual phenomenon, ligions around the world abound secularized further, became the con- an event that strikes at the faith we with examples of the belief that suf- cept of causal determinism). Second, can have in life. The role of suffering fering is a punishment exacted by the there is the somewhat more complex in our lives is contested at the level gods. But this is already an anthropo- idea that such change is somehow an of discourse at which cultural mean- morphic rendering of a more primi- offense to the divine order and that ings and visions of human life are tive idea: namely, that, despite its reparation therefore has to be made negotiated. ubiquity, suffering is something that for the very contingency of the exis- In evaluating its role, the central should not happen. It is something tence of things. Change is an offense question is whether suffering is a that is inherently negative. It is a de- to the eternal and changeless scheme good thing or a bad thing. This may parture from how things should be. of justice, where justice involves that seem an odd question to pose; it may But why? Clearly, it is contrary to fated order in which everything is as seem obvious that suffering is intrin- what the victim or victims of the suf- it should be. In contrast to this divine sically bad. Given the ineliminability fering would want. But it would be order, changeable reality is an offense of suffering from our lives, however, a hubris to suppose that the mere wish- that calls for reparation. The penalty central project of human thought is es of individuals could establish the that needs to be paid is suffering. In to make it bearable or acceptable, and axiological status of suffering. The this way a conceptual association is one of the most common ways of value status of everything, including expressed and forged between suffer- doing this is to show it to be good in suffering, must arise from an order of ing, existence in this world, and pun- some way. If suffering were seen as a reality greater than that of puny hu- ishment. Suffering in this world was positive event or force in our lives, man individuals or peoples. It must inevitable, negative, and necessary. we would be better able to endure it. arise from the gods. Suffering must But it was ordained by the supernat- Accordingly, our cultural tradition be seen as part of the divine order, ural order, and therefore ultimately contains many attempts to make suf- and the most obvious explanation in positive. fering positive.2 Simultaneously, there a universe that contains gods who developed this contrast be- are those who think such attempts a have emotions and desires like hu- tween two worlds, one of divinely species of bad faith and who argue man beings is that suffering is sent by constituted perfection and the that, if we are to be authentic in the the gods to punish human beings for of worldly change and corruption, face of it, suffering must always be deeds that displease the gods. In this into a secular metaphysical system. considered negative. This paper ex- way suffering becomes part of the Martha Nussbaum has argued that plores a few of the attempts in the divine order despite its apparent evil Plato’s metaphysical system was a re- Western tradition to give suffering and acquires an explanation of why sponse to the fragility, danger, and meaning and then asks whether an it is, after all, to be borne with equa- sorrow of worldly existence.4 In the authentic acceptance of suffering as nimity. face of these afflictions, the contem- something inherently negative, de- The genius of plative mind created a realm of per- structive, and adverse to human hap- thought was to have transcended the fection from which to draw consola- piness can still be acceptable. anthropomorphic gods and replaced tion. On the eve of his death, Plato’s them with more abstract concepts. hero welcomes his fate on Ancient Conceptions: The concept of justice acquired a the ground that it will take him out Suffering and the World content similar to that of destiny; it of this world of suffering, change, alluded to the cosmic order itself. and obfuscation and into a realm rom the very earliest of times in The one fragment of the thinking of where clarity and light will guarantee Fthe West, suffering has been asso- Anaximander that has come down to his knowledge of the Forms of Beau- ciated with the concept of justice. us expresses the matter thus: ty, Truth, and Goodness. Although What the spiritual or contemplative there is no direct link here between Things perish into those things functions of our thinking seek is a co- suffering and punishment, there is an out of which they have their birth, herent and totalizing world view in association between suffering and a according to that which is or- which everything has its place and lesser form of existence, namely, exis- dained; for they give reparation to nothing disturbs the order. Within tence in a world of variability, corrup- one another and pay the penalty such a divinely decreed cosmos, suf- tion, and epistemological uncertainty. of their injustice according to the fering would result either from a disposition of time.3 human violation of the supernatural Christianity: order or a divine response to such a Two crucial elements comprise this Suffering as Reparation violation. thought. First, there is the notion of Perhaps the most primeval and change as a constant flow into and he idea that suffering is an in- naive reaction to suffering is to think out of existence in accordance with Tevitable and inescapable aspect of it as punishment. Cultures and re- an overarching destiny (an idea that, of worldly existence but that it can be

14 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT September-October 1998 escaped by a form of self-transcen- project or our autonomy involves divine providence works in a similar dence, an elevation to a higher mode being able to give up things that we way, by suggesting that all the unfor- of existence, can also be found in want. “Suffering is not morally sig- tunate things that occur in the world many of the great world religions, in- nificant only because things happen have a larger purpose and will ulti- cluding , Buddhism, and to us that we cannot avoid,” writes mately tend to the good, as guaran- Christianity. In the West, the pre- Hauerwas, “but because the demand teed by God. This too is a theory that dominant way of giving suffering meaning is still derived from Chris- tianity. For a Christian, human be- ings are tainted with . Our bodies might suffer maladies, we might suffer There is here another version of the notion that worldly existence is less pain, our zest for life might be lost, our relationships than perfect, even corrupt, but in this shattered, our projects failures, our suffering real, version, the primordial condition of humanity requires reparation. As a and yet we can think of it as for the ultimate good. natural outgrowth of a religious tradi- tion in which ritual blood sacrifice was used to appease God and seek His favor, and in which guilt for sin of morality cannot be satisfied with- belongs to the meaning-seeking or was washed away in sacrificial blood, out asking the self to submit to limits contemplative aspect of our exis- suffering came to be seen as a price imposed by morality itself. In this tence. It too allows us to understand that had to be paid for sin. And so sense, without allowing ourselves and suffering and misfortune as meaning- heinous was the original crime of others to suffer we could not be ful, in this case by situating it within humanity that nothing less than the human or humane.”5 a divine providential plan. suffering of a God was required to This insightful observation about The key point about an authentic achieve reparation for it. Christ’s suf- human life recasts the meaning of acceptance of suffering is that suffer- fering on the cross thus becomes a suffering by turning it into sacrifice. ing is not made meaningful. It is in- paradigm case of positive suffering. It Suffering for a cause, even merely giv- herently negative. What is crucial in was this sacrifice that saved human- ing up something we want for the the Christian theories is that suffering kind from sin, and every Christian is sake of something more worthy, frus- is experienced as negative—it really called upon to participate in it by trates our desires and might for that is suffering—but that when suffering dedicating their own suffering to this reason be thought of as suffering. In- is given meaning within the larger salvific task or by declaring their faith sofar as these experiences are freely story, it becomes something positive. in its achievement. Thus the Christ- accepted for the sake of some good, Suffering will be negative in that it ian believes that salvation is achieved however, they are actually cases of hinders the fulfillment of the biologi- through suffering, whether their own sacrifice. That is, one is accepting cal aims of the body, negative in that or that of Christ. some frustration, pain, or negative it involves pain or other frustrations This account can be complicated. experience for the sake of something of our desires and needs, and negative At least one writer in the Christian better or worthier. in that it frustrates our practical pro- tradition, Stanley Hauerwas, has re- However the relation between the jects and our pursuit of everyday cently argued that Christians should Christian’s suffering and the suffer- goals. Yet it becomes positive by not in any simplistic way align their ings of Christ is understood, the out- virtue of the meaning-giving aspect suffering with that represented by the lines of the Christian theory of suffer- of our existence. Our bodies might cross. According to Hauerwas, only ing are clear. At the contemplative suffer maladies, we might suffer pain, suffering accepted for some moral level of our being, where we establish our zest for life might be lost, our re- reason is Christlike. Hauerwas argues the meaningfulness of our lives by lationships shattered, our projects that suffering is an intrinsic part of relating it to a larger story, reality, or failures, our suffering real, and yet we our moral lives. No human life could cosmic theory, Christians relate their can think of it as for the ultimate be complete without accepting some suffering to the story of Christ so as good. And in this way the meaning- suffering as part of its moral project. to give it meaning. In this way Chris- fulness and integration of our exis- Just as we should be prepared to ac- tians feel that they can contribute tence can be preserved and even en- cept death for some overwhelmingly their suffering to the salvific plan of hanced despite the trauma we experi- noble cause, so we should be pre- God. Suffering loses its prima facie ence. It is among the highest tri- pared to accept suffering in propor- negative character for the victim by umphs of human existence that it can tion to the value at issue. Even in being given a transcendent, positive achieve the overcoming and transfor- mundane contexts our moral self- meaning. The Christian concept of mation of suffering in this way.

September-October 1998 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT 15 Even within the Christian tradi- The key to Weil’s thinking in these tified by having a meaning or a pur- tion, these ways of turning suffering quotes is the notion of distance. Weil pose is to denigrate the other by mak- into something positive have been argues that the incarnation both es- ing him a means to some purpose. It questioned. In a rich and complex tablishes and bridges the distance be- is an immoral gesture that refuses to argument, Simone Weil has stressed tween God and creation but without see the suffering for what it is: useless. the irreducibly negative character of thereby alleviating the meaningless- Our response to the suffering of the suffering even when conceived from ness and alienation of creation. The other must be compassion, not expla- a theological perspective. Weil argues Cross of Christ therefore represents nation. Indeed, Levinas argues that that some suffering amounts to what the reality of the abandonment and suffering is a unique possibility for she calls “affliction,” a form of suffer- hopelessness of the human condition overcoming the isolation that we all ing that damages the selfhood and arising from its distance from God. experience as atomistic individuals in crushes the spirit of its victim. Where- Affliction is a that we must all a narcissistic society. Even in our own as everyday pain and suffering are accept, just as Christ did, because it experience, suffering cannot be ab- troubles we can cope with, in the face is inevitable within our created con- sorbed into the world that we consti- of which we can bless God for the dition. tute for ourselves as our own. It is al- challenges He sends us, affliction And yet Weil does not deduce ways strange and foreign. Whereas it cannot but lead to despair. Whether from these insights that affliction has is the existential nature of our being because of the intensity or the inter- a positive meaning. She rejects utterly to be active in relation to the world, minable duration of the agony, the any doctrine of providence. Creation in the face of suffering we are passive. victim of affliction is reduced to really is meaningless and purposeless As a result suffering is always an alien- being a thing completely determined and our place in it really is subject to ation of our being. It destroys our self- by the blind forces of causality. Such the utter degradation of affliction. possession and our self-satisfied en- suffering is a form of humiliation The perennial cry of every afflicted joyment of life. and of absolute degradation. To en- person, “Why?”, was uttered by This allows us to be open to the dure it is to be a slave to the pain and Christ himself and received no an- suffering of the other through com- anguish that the victim undergoes. swer. We must simply accept that the passion. Rather than being enclosed Moreover, by focusing the victim’s sets up this distance be- in the solipsism of self-concern, with attention exclusively on personal dis- tween creation (including the incar- the presence of the other a mere ra- tress, it constitutes the victim as total- nate Christ) and Himself. It is be- tional posit unable to touch our being ly alienated in relation to others and cause of this distance that affliction in its intimacy, our encounter with to Otherness. Affliction leads to total (as well as other more positive mys- the suffering of another calls upon separation from hope, from society, teries such as ) occurs. Our our responsibility and awakens us to and from God. quest for meaning yields only silence the real presence of the other in his or And yet, Weil goes on to say, it is and in this silence is the space for her need. In this way the negativity precisely in this total abnegation that love and faith. “God’s secret word of and meaninglessness of suffering, the victim participates in the afflic- love can be nothing else but silence” rather than being wiped out in a tion of Christ. Christ also suffered (p. 467). , provide the basis of real abandonment by God. The following contact with others. It creates the in- passages give the flavor of Weil’s Suffering in a Secular Age terpersonal space in which can thinking: occur. As Levinas puts it, “For pure he Jewish Emmanuel suffering, which is intrinsically Men struck down by affliction are at the foot of the Cross, almost at TLevinas also firmly rejects the meaningless and condemned to itself the greatest possible distance from possibility that suffering has any without exit, a beyond takes shape in 7 God.6 providential meaning. Reflecting on the inter-human.” My helping the the Holocaust, Levinas concedes that other is a recognition of that person’s As for us men, our misery gives us suffering of such magnitude and such being, and a recognition no mere the- the infinitely precious privilege of uselessness cannot be absorbed into a oretical thought could accomplish. sharing in this distance placed justifying theological narrative. God Suffering, therefore, has a meaning in between the Son and his Father was silent in Auschwitz and remains the interhuman world that preserves (p. 446). so. And yet there is a nontheological its inherent negativity: it grounds the If the tree of life, and not simply meaning that can be ascribed to suf- ethical. the divine seed, is already formed fering if one’s view of one’s own suf- Are such ways of giving meaning in a man’s soul at the time when fering might be different from one’s to suffering available in a postmodern extreme affliction strikes him, view of the suffering of others. In- secular age? What meaning is avail- then he is nailed to the same cross deed, it must be different. To say of able for people without religious or as Christ (p. 453). the suffering of another that it is jus- even humanistic faith? A schematic

16 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT September-October 1998 answer can be found in the ancient law. To be moral was all. This in turn itself with it and should look beyond Stoic and in Nietzsche, meant that we should seek good it toward an eternal and changeless who in different ways embraced a things, shun bad things, and be in- nature conceived as moral and tran- tragic sense of life. They held that different to things that are indiffer- scendent. We can see the influence of there is no plan, no purpose, and no ent. Among the indifferent things is Plato’s Socrates on this view. The health, since it can be tragic view of life, as articulated by used for good or for bad the Stoics, leads to a life that secures What meaning is available and so is in itself morally our moral being and integrity by neutral.9 Good things withdrawing from our worldly exis- for people without religious make us morally good tence. But it is not likely to be useful and bad things make us to us today. While we may view it or even humanistic faith? morally bad, but of itself, with admiration, its emphasis on health does neither. And withdrawal ensures that it will not so it is with the opposite have much appeal to our modern of health. As Seneca put sensibilities. meaning to existence arising from it, “That which is evil does harm; reality itself. The cosmos does not that which does harm makes a man Pain within a Life Project run in accordance with a divine plan worse. But pain and poverty do not or an inherent goal. There is no over- make a man worse; therefore, they are lthough he owes much to the arching fate or justice. The world is not evils.”10 Epictetus offers similar A Stoic philosophers, Nietzsche just a vast dynamic system of change advice in paragraphs eight and nine presents us with a rather different and becoming. Everything becomes of his Manual: suggestion as to how a positive mean- what it is and changes in systems of ing might be given to suffering. He Ask not that events should happen mutual interaction and effect. Hu- develops it in this typically rhetorical as you will, but let your will be man beings are subject to “the slings and eloquent passage: that events should happen as they and arrows of outrageous fortune.” do, and you shall have . You want if possible—and there is Whatever happens is caused by blind Sickness is a hindrance to the no madder “if possible”—to abolish and purposeless processes. It is appro- body, but not to the will, unless suffering; and we?—it really does priate to do what we can to protect the will consent. Lameness is a seem that we would rather increase ourselves from bad luck and evil, but hindrance to the leg, but not to it and make it worse than it has if we become victims we can only ac- the will. Say this to yourself at ever been! Wellbeing as you under- cept what has happened as inevitable. each event that happens, for you stand it—that is no goal, that There is no transcendent meaning to shall find that though it hinders seems to us an end! A state which be given to it. something else it will not hinder soon renders man ludicrous and Nonetheless, to accept suffering as you.11 contemptible—which makes it de- the result of blind fate, or even to love sirable that he should perish! The fate, as Nietzsche would put it, is to Epictetus’s thought is, first, that those discipline of suffering, of great suf- give meaning to one’s suffering. To people who accept everything that fering—do you not know that it see suffering this way is still to exer- befalls them in the physical world is this discipline alone which has cise the contemplative and meaning- will live with equanimity, and sec- created every elevation of mankind giving side of our existence, since to ond, that illness, lameness, and other hitherto? That tension of the soul adopt such a view is still to insert our forms of suffering are physical events; in misfortune which cultivates its suffering into a larger theory of reali- they affect the body but not the will strength, its terror at the sight of ty. It gives suffering the meaning of or moral being of a person. Provided great destruction, its inventiveness tragedy even while it says that suffer- this moral being is kept intact, the and bravery in undergoing, endur- ing is meaningless. And so the tragic person will experience inner freedom ing, interpreting, exploiting mis- view of life is a real alternative among and peace. Acceptance of fate, along fortune, and whatever of depth, the various ways that the contempla- with a focus on one’s inner existence, mystery, mask, spirit, cunning and tive aspect of our being gives mean- are the guarantees of a peaceful mode greatness has been bestowed upon ing to suffering. of being. it—has it not been bestowed The Stoic philosophers encapsu- In this conception, suffering is through suffering, through the dis- lated their view in saying that we something toward which the victim cipline of great suffering?12 should live life “in agreement with should remain indifferent. It is nei- nature.”8 By this they variously meant ther good nor bad. It is to be given no Nietzsche praises suffering as the that we should live in accordance meaning. The contemplative dimen- means whereby a higher order of hu- with human virtue or with natural sion of our being should not trouble manity will evolve. Nietzsche strong-

September-October 1998 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT 17 ly disparaged pleasure and comfort as it shows that the person fails to ap- expressed in the theoretical aspect of goals of human life. He hated utilitar- preciate the positive power of suffer- our being is still in us, however. In a ianism, thinking it a doctrine that ing, and it belittles the object of pity postmodern culture it is exercised in gave moral worth to the satisfaction because it represents that person as the “integrative” aspect of our be- of desire for its own sake. Rather, he failing to bear suffering courageously. ing,14 the aspect in which we engage admired what he saw as the overcom- Pity goes hand in hand with the de- in the preconscious task of combin- ing of our human natures by way of sire for comfort, thought Nietzsche, ing the various dimensions of our lives together so as to constitute our wholeness and identity. This can be achieved by faith or commitment. The challenge of postmodern authenticity is And above all else, Nietzsche might be seen as urging us to live in a com- to refuse the false consolations of or mitted way. Which ideals and hopes we commit ourselves to does not metaphysical theories that make suffering positive. much matter; they would all be meaning-giving stories anyway. But the key point is that we achieve the integration of our being by infusing effort and striving. He admired com- and should be repudiated on that ac- every aspect of our existence, includ- mitment and dedication and the will- count. But if the rejection of pity ing the bodily, with the enthusiasm ingness to put up with hardship and constitutes a rejection of compassion, for, and commitment to, those of our pain in the pursuit of a noble goal then Nietzsche should himself be re- goals which define our identity. Both and in particular, in the fulfillment of pudiated. So understood, Nietzsche our zest for living and our practical our existential quest for self-affirma- comes to seem callous and uncaring. tasks would in this way become, tion and self-assertion. He saw this Whether or not we reject Niet- along with our very biological being, quest as leading to a newer and better zsche, however, his position is impor- an expression of our commitment. kind of human being. But this being tant for understanding how we con- Our highest ideals would shape the who would overcome mere humanity front suffering. Even if abhorrent, it way we live. Our bodies would be in- would not emerge if we focused only expresses the attitude to suffering that fused and enlivened by our commit- on comfort and the avoidance of suf- many people in our culture have. It is ments, not just as their vehicle, but as fering. The avoidance of pain and yet another theory, created by the their very expression, for we feel more amelioration of suffering were forces contemplative aspect of our being, of alive when we are engaged upon an of decadence that led to the softening how suffering might be made more absorbing task. In this way we would of the human spirit and a loss of meaningful. In this theory there is a overcome the all-too-human desire focus upon the task of self-overcom- story of how humanity reaches its for comfort and security and extend ing, which was essential to human highest types and of how suffering is ourselves both physically and spiritu- advancement. Suffering was the cru- necessary for this to be achieved. In- ally towards the goal of self-overcom- cible in which a higher form of hu- terestingly, Nietzsche himself would ing. Our pain, effort, and struggle manity could be forged. not dispute this framing of his ac- would then not be meaningless suf- Nietzsche’s view is attractive. It is count; he would react to it with fering since they would not frustrate implicitly accepted by nations that irony. It was his view that humanity our whole being. While there might define their identity through the suf- tells itself a variety of stories in order be pain and hardship, our commit- fering and sacrifice of their founding to make life livable and that his own ment and drive for becoming would fathers or heroes,13 as Australia story is just one of these. None of shape all them into a single life pro- does with its annual celebration of a these creations of contemplative rea- ject. Our pain and hardship would major military defeat on Anzac Day. son could be taken as ultimately true, validate our identity. In at least one respect, too, Nietzsche’s including Nietzsche’s own. Whether this way of thinking view is similar to the view of some The reason that Nietzsche’s view would allow us to embrace the suffer- Christians, since it embraces suffering and its self-deprecating irony finds ing that is inflicted by disease or acci- as a sacrifice for a higher goal. Indeed, a ready response in contemporary dent, the suffering that is not part of Nietzsche’s view might seem noble postmodern thinking is that it rejects our life’s plan, is perhaps still doubt- were it not for his further view about overarching theories of providence ful. Useless suffering in the face of pity. Nietzsche thought that pity be- or human progress. In postmodern which we are passive might continue littles the person who feels it as well thinking there is little scope for to be meaningless in terms of our as the person who is its object. It be- contemplative reason. The existential life’s goals. Or it might be embraced littles the person who feels it because quest for meaning that used to be as the test of our mettle, the ultimate

18 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT September-October 1998 ordeal through which our existential to the suffering of others. Indeed, at- 4. Martha C. Nussbaum, The Fragility of faith and commitment might be tempts to make suffering good blind Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy (New York: Cambridge Uni- tested. Whether one is a Christian us to the reality of our and of others’ versity Press, 1986). who sees suffering as part of God’s suffering by allowing us to view it as 5. Stanley Hauerwas, “Reflections on salvific plan for humanity, or a hu- something that ought to happen or Suffering, Death, and Medicine,” in Suffer- manist who thinks that suffering that ought to be accepted. Cruelty ing Presence: Theological Reflections on Medi- grounds the possibility of ethics and insensitivity lie down this path. cine, the Mentally Handicapped, and the through compassion, or a Stoic who The tragic bearing of suffering, on Church (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of maintains an indifference to suffer- Notre Dame Press, 1986), pp. 23-38, at 25. the other hand, awakens us to its real- I am grateful to Mark Hanson of the Hast- ing as something morally irrelevant, ity. If neither the gods, the cosmos, ings Center for bringing this issue to my or a Nietzschean who holds that suf- providence, nor a faith in human attention. fering ennobles the human spirit and progress rob suffering of its tragedy, 6. Simone Weil, “The Love of God and makes possible human advancement then we are left just with the brute Affliction,” The Simone Weil Reader, ed. and personal self-validation, the per- George A. Panichas (New York: David fact that we and others suffer. And in ennial and inescapable question of McKay Company, 1977), p. 444. this there is community. Our own the one who suffers is, Why me? But 7. , “Useless Suffer- suffering awakens us to what the rather than seek an answer to that ing,” in The Provocation of Levinas: Rethink- other is going through and thus cre- ing the Other, ed. R. Bernasconi and D. question, we should ask, in the spirit Wood (London: , 1988), p. 159. of Nietzsche, why we want an answer ates in us the compassion through which relieving actions can be moti- 8. Diogenes Laertius, SVF I, 179z (I, to it. The challenge of postmodern 552). vated. In this community of suffer- authenticity is to sever the link be- 9. An anonymous reviewer of this article tween suffering and justice. It is to ing, a meaning might yet be found has pointed out that the Stoics could still accept the blindness of fate and the for our own suffering. Perhaps all the differentiate among indifferent things. inevitability of bad luck. It is to meaning that suffering can have is Some could be preferred to others and refuse the false consolations of theo- that it teaches us to care for others. could therefore be legitimate objects of pursuit, even though they were ultimately dicies or metaphysical theories that morally indifferent. References make suffering positive. Suffering is 10. Diogenes Laertius, SVF III, 166. to be borne. There is nothing more 1. Eric J. Cassell, The Nature of Suffering 11. Epictetus, The Manual of Epictetus, to it. and the Goals of Medicine (New York: Ox- paragraphs 8 and 9. The only question remaining ford University Press, 1991), pp. 30-47. 12. , Beyond Good about this way of thinking would be 2. For a fuller treatment of these ideas in and Evil, trans. R. J. Hollingdale (Har- whether it could give rise to compas- the context of health care, see Rodney L. mondsworth, U.K.: Penguin Books, 1973), sion for the suffering of others. That Taylor and Jean Watson, eds., They Shall paragraph 225. Emphasis in the original. is, even if we reject the ancient and Not Hurt: Human Suffering and Human 13. See Joseph A. Amato, Victims and Caring (Boulder: Colorado Associated Uni- Christian attempts to accept suffer- Values: A History and a Theory of Suffering versity Press, 1989). (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990). ing, we should try to incorporate 3. Quoted in F. M. Cornford, From Re- 14. For a wide-ranging discussion, see some part of Levinas’s humanistic in- ligion to Philosophy: A Study in the Origins , Life in Fragments: Essays sight. And this seems possible. Inso- of Western Speculation (New York: Harper in Postmodern Morality (Oxford: Blackwell, far as suffering is borne, it opens us Torchbooks, 1957), p. 8. 1995).

September-October 1998 HASTINGS CENTER REPORT 19