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Please tell me why my question was closed:

https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/1359/what-is-the-maximum-possible-pain-in-the-universe

It is obvious that the question is completely concrete (at least in the part of pain) and falls in the topic of metaphysics.

On a neurological forum this would be of course off-topic because the question asks for an answer for any poissible brain construction, not only that based on neurons.

Also as I can tell, theoretical neurology leaves the question about what creatures can experience pain (and qualia in general) to philosophy.

Please re-open this question, I see nothing wrong with it. If it is not suitable for this site then this site is not about philosophy at all.

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    It is not obvious to me that the question is completely concrete. I have no definitive answer for measuring or comparing pain.
    – davidlowryduda
    Commented Sep 25, 2011 at 18:48
  • If the question was easily answerable, I would not ask it. Actually there are many different methods of measuring and comparing pain but all of them have limited area of applicability and/or can sometimes contradict each other in thought experiments.
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 25, 2011 at 18:54
  • Actually the answer should depend on the philosophical school to which the answerer belongs as with many other questions in philosophy.
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 25, 2011 at 18:57
  • the maximum possible pain in the universe is when your question about it is closed.
    – c69
    Commented Oct 10, 2011 at 22:01

2 Answers 2

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Philosophy.SE is not a philosophy forum but a Q&A community -- please consider reviewing the FAQ for a sense of what's considered constructive both here and on StackExchange in general.

Your question as formulated is not constructive in my eyes because it is not particularly helpful to anybody as posed. It is mindless social fun, and any educational benefit would be completely auxiliary.

The idea is to ask questions that are about problems you are actually facing in your daily work (of studying philosophy) -- and getting constructive answers to them. If you want to have a discussion please consider using the chat.

At any rate, I would encourage you to give us a little more context -- maybe tell us something about your motivation, why you want to find this out, how someone from the community here explaining this to you helps advance your study of philosophy -- and we might be able to work out some way to express your problem in a more constructive way.

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  • What practical benefit could I expect from philosophy questions? My interest was about whether the magnitude of pain is absolute and can be increased infinitely with say, brain size or it is relative to the size of brain and as such brain of any size is can (if kept conscious) experience the infinite pain or maximal pain possible in universe.
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 25, 2011 at 19:20
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    The study of philosophy does generate real and practical challenges -- questions of interpretation, validity of argument, etc. That's besides the point. Please consider reformulating to include context, including how you think someone from the community here explaining the answer to you helps make you a better student of philosophy. There's nothing properly philosophical about your question and there's no actual problem to be solved. I'm not really interested in repeating myself much more here, but if you do make some effort to improve your question I'd be happy to reconsider my close vote.
    – Joseph Weissman Mod
    Commented Sep 25, 2011 at 19:34
  • I finished my studying many years ago. I see no other questions here which provide any study or carrier motivations for questions, why should I be an exception?
    – Anixx
    Commented Mar 17, 2013 at 22:41
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This question seems to me to be inappropriate to this site.

Whether pain is relative to the size of the brain seems to be a biological/anatomical question, not a philosophical one. Generally speaking, if a question could be answered by a physical experiment, it's not philosophy.

Furthermore, what would be the philosophical value of knowing whether a given being could experience the maximal pain possible in the universe? Is this a step in a larger argument that I am not seeing, or just idle speculation?

If there is a connection between this question and any body of existing philosophical literature, I'm not aware of it. If that's the case, perhaps the OP could edit the question to reference said literature, to help contextualize the question.

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  • This question cannot be answered in physical experiment. This is the most philosophical question I can imagine because it deals with things which are in the core of metaphysics. Sorry, it seems you have no knowledge about what is philosophy.
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 8:33
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    I have no knowledge about what philosophy is? Really? Are you sure you want to go down that road? Especially if you are claiming that "Is there a maximum limit to pain possible for any mass whatsoever?" is the most important philosophical question you can imagine? I understand that you are upset that your questions are being closed, but rather than lash out with insults, why don't you take a closer look at the guidelines for this site, and the questions (and answers) that are getting upvoted? (And, as an aside: how is any question based on "brain mass" at the core of metaphysics?)
    – Michael Dorfman
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 9:01
  • I already stated this in the question related to quantum mechanics, but I want to repeat: it is not interesting for me to receive your opinion. I maybe will go away from this site, or not, but anyway please do not respond to my questions any more. I am looking for answers of certain quality, if your responses is maximum which I can expect here, it is not interestiong to participate here any longer.
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 10:03
  • And regarding your sarcastic comment about mass, I think there are only two tendencies possible: increase in complexity, dimensions and the number of elements (if to feel more pleasure more brain is necessary) and decrease, degradation (if to feel more pleasure no greather brain is useless).
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 10:19
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    Let's summarize, then: you have posted 5 questions, all of which have been downvoted and closed, although you think they are "the most philosophical" questions posed. You do not wish to receive answers from me, although I am currently at the top of the leaderboard for points awarded by the community for good answers. I think we can make a prima facie case that your judgment is at odds with the majority of community here as to what constitutes good questions and good answers. I suspect that this site is not what you think it is.
    – Michael Dorfman
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 10:24
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    @Anixx I understand you are upset but there is no call to be rude to other users, especially when they are trying to help
    – Joseph Weissman Mod
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 13:35
  • You again removed my comment :-(
    – Anixx
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 21:46
  • @Anixx please keep in mind that comments are to be used solely for clarifying the question or answer -- they are not intended for extended discussion, and off-topic/unconstructive comments are subject to deletion. I will try to be considerate of everyone's interest here, but keep in mind comments should be polite, on-topic and constructive (responding to the question or answer it is attached to, not having a side discussion.)
    – Joseph Weissman Mod
    Commented Sep 27, 2011 at 23:56

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