Prolibertas -

Frankly, this sentence is more answer than that question deserves.

Actually, it's a very good question. WHY do we want to reduce suffering? Is there a moral fact? Is it just because we don't like suffering? Why do I get so disturbed when I hear babies crying in pain? Could there not be a race of people who ignore suffering? Why is that race of people not us?

If suffering is an objectively moral evil, how do we tell? Are not our sensations enough to get us to disapprove of it? Why would we need a moral fact to get us to the stage of condemning it?

The priest says that god disapproves of suffering. The utilitarian would say that suffering generally leads to bad consequences and hence should be avoided. The deontologist claims that every person has a right not to suffer. The moral error theorist claims that we don't like pain, and there's an end to it.

All these people give different answers to the question 'Why do we want to avoid suffering?' They all agree that we should avoid it, but they disagree about WHY.