Pain related inhibition by GABA and glycine in the rat spinal cord `

In the 17th century, René Descartes, who is generally considered as the ‘father of modern philosophy’, was one of the first in history to inquire into the feeling of pain on a rational (scientific) basis. Some of his philosophical reasoning, like his theory on the dualistic nature of humans with a clear separation between the mind and the body, are still found in our culture today. Several of his other statements, e.g. that animals do not have a mind and therefore are not able to feel pain, are now generally considered as outdated. Nevertheless, his view on the transmission of pain, represented as the pulling of a thread, and on the functional importance of pain are not completely at odds with current views on pain transmission.