Abstract
Pain is a phenomenon whose study has historically reflected different views of man. The various analgesic medical practices of the ancient ages are, until the late Enlightenment, an impressive testimony to the time in which they were practiced.
They are a testimony that is expressed by the fulfillment of the mentioned practice with symbols, rituals, or extensive ceremonies that referred to the central themes (anthropological, religious, social), conflicts and interpretive frameworks of the community. Despite indications of the rationality of practice, an important form always remained, which was always a peculiar reference or, philosophically, more precisely, a reference to something that transcended the objective signs of pain.
Modernity has brought a logical view, which did not go without the necessary fragmentation of knowledge of natural sciences, which led to the enormous success of medicine as a science. However, the price that medicine paid for this success was alienation, which did not benefit the treatment of pain, because the part of the practice that is associated with intuitive insight and empathy, what is called medical art (ars medica), was humiliated.
Medical approaches of the late modern and postmodern era, which appreciate the inner experience, subjective interpretation and microsocial context of the disease, with their emphasis on reminding and respecting indescribable, subconscious, internal aspects of the pain, enhanced compliance and effectiveness of standard analgesic procedures. A placebo becomes something that is not an obstacle; on the contrary, an experienced medical doctor can work with it rationally to enhance the effectiveness of his/her treatment, which today must follow strict protocols, decision-making nodes and expert knowledge.
In our article, we present to readers a brief summary of historical views on the treatment of pain, while in the second part we present a text on the very interesting development of algesiology in the Czech lands together with reminders of prominent Czech physicians and scientists related to this field. They are personalities without whom we would never have achieved so many excellent clinical and theoretical successes on our soil.