Pain and the senses

There has been considerable philosophical debate over whether pain is a form of perception. A point of controversy is what pain is perception of; the best answer is neither pain-causing stimuli nor pain sensation but injury or the threat thereof. This answers the argument that pain cannot be perception because its 'objects' are private and exist only when perceived. A more potent argument is that pain is too poorly correlated with injury to count as perception of it. This issue is to be settled, in part, by determining the function of pain. The standard view of pain's function has here been contested and the resolution of the controversy will affect our inclination to ascribe to pain the status of perceptual faculty.