What did the first humans experience, was it pain first or pleasure?

Question

If man hadn't experienced pain would pleasure not have come about. If pleasure came about first, why then pain?
(I'm talking physical sensations here not mental thoughts considered as the same type of pain and suffering.) OK

Answer 1

I think there is a part of God in each of us...we call that the soul. If we conclude we came from God who is eternal, then we are eternal. We've always been and always will be. So........if we came from God and He/She/It is all knowing all loving (unconditionally) and we came from there, then we must have experienced pleasure first, then our souls were infused into the human body and also experienced pain.

Another way to look at it is......the physical pleasure that was experienced in creation (either the actual act of having sex or when the egg and sperm unite) seems to point to a pleasurable experience first.

Unfortunately, no matter which angle I look at it....pleasure would have had to been experienced first. In which case, once we understood what pleasure was, we then rationalised on what was not pleasurable...pain.

Good luck on your answers......good question.

Answer 2

Technically if you want to be biblical about this then the "apple and the serpent" was a metaphor for a good bonk and therefore pleasure came shortly before the pain of being thrown out of the garden of Eden.

In biological terms (and slightly more rational too) it's likely pain came first as it's a more useful response than pleasure (which is a bit of a luxury really) and we always smack babies as they are born ensuring their first experience is almost always a bit of pain to make them cry.

Answer 3

Someone once said that humans spend most of their time doing one of two things: pursuing pleasure or avoiding pain. The first humans probably had nothing in the way of creature comforts and tools as we know it today. So in all likelihood, their first interaction with their environment was painful, possibly even fatal. There was probably a lot of learning by trial-and-error. Ever wonder how people figured out which plants were edible and which were lethal? (Mog collapsed after eating the red berries but Pog didn't. Pog ate only the blue ones. Hmm.) Going by the premise above, as their brains developed and they got smarter, the first humans gradually learned to avoid pain and increase pleasure by developing tools, clothing, weapons, techniques to cope with and eventually succeed in their environment.

Answer 4

I have two answers ... Firstly ,without thought there was no way to discriminate between the two . So as thought ,categorisation ,etc evolved so did consciousness of pain, and pleasure and the seeking /avoiding of them . This latter is what we really mean by pleasure and pain ,but we live so much in our thoughts now that we can no longer separate our reactions from the event.
Fear ,however would seem to be a basic physical experience ,as well as desire/appetite ,but once again distorted by fear of fear ,and desire based on habit.

Alternatively.... Gases are attracted to each other to form solids , solids are attracted to form more complex forms,until cells arrive, cells are attracted to form simple animal and vegetable forms, these are attracted to form complex creatures and plants, and these are attracted to each other to continue their respective species and improve them. I don't know if that's pleasure , but it sounds like it's origin ,and it sounds pretty fundamental to everything to me....

Finally, is tickling pleasure or pain ?

Answer 5

Trebs answer is correct I think. Imagine an animal in a zoo. [Or my big fat dog presently dozing in MY chair]. The beast is certainly not in pain. It is in a very pleasant twilight world, probably thinking of dinner.
This is how animals are born and live. The do not worry, only ever experience panic as a sharp momentary emotion when faced with palpable danger. And seem to actively avoid dangerous activities. (Smoking, riding motorbikes, adultery, bungee jumping?? I think not.)
Pain is perceived as a sharp response to a momentarily sharp situation. Otherwise life really is "all beer and skittles" for them.
For humans I think that pain evolved as a reaction to our social development that generated activities that had the potential for pain.
To make up for this unfairness my dog is about receive a perception to a sharp situation. I shall kick its **** out of my chair.

Answer 6

Pleasure first. Pain would have appeared in the form of a nasty cut I guess...

Answer 7

id say pain. stepping on stones and sticks without shoes can be tough. the first man didnt appear on this earth playing with himself. he had to learn pleasure later. finding food, climbing trees, to get the pleasure of a full stomach, they would have to of gotten cut or something. try climbing a tree with no clothes and see how many splinters you get.

Answer 8

Pain, the first experiece of a new born baby is pain,the doctor hit him or her on his/her back to cry and then they ask mothers to feed the baby which is pleasure.

Answer 9

both but not at the same time i think pleasure and then pain

Answer 10

I think you must experience pain before you can feel pleasure !