The threshold of pain is the point at which pain begins to be felt. It is an entirely subjective phenomenon. The intensity at which a stimulus (e.g., heat, pressure) begins to evoke pain is the threshold intensity. So, if a hotplate on a person's skin begins to hurt at 42°C (107°F), then that is the pain threshold temperature for that bit of skin at that time. 42°C is not the pain threshold, it is the temperature at which the pain threshold was crossed.
The intensity at which a stimulus begins to evoke pain varies from individual to individual and for a given individual over time.
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Famous quotes containing the words threshold of, threshold and/or pain:
“I had a good talk with Alcott this afternoon. He is certainly the youngest man of his age we have seen,—just on the threshold of life. When I looked at his gray hairs, his conversation sounded pathetic; but I looked again, and they reminded me of the gray dawn.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The free man is a warrior.—How is freedom measured among individuals, among peoples? According to the resistance that must be overcome, according to the trouble it takes to stay on top. The highest type of free man must be sought where the highest resistance is constantly overcome: five steps away from tyranny, close to the threshold of the danger of servitude.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“When we say that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasure of the profligate or that which depends on physical enjoyment—as some think who do not understand our teachings, disagree with them, or give them an evil interpretation—but by pleasure we mean the state wherein the body is free from pain and the mind from anxiety.”
—Epicurus (c. 341–271 B.C.)