Does root canal surgery hurt without anesthesia?

Most likely: Root canal surgery is done because of bacteria destroying tissue. This has to be cleaned out.

Depends: If by root canal surgery you mean root canal treatment, then if the nerve is dead, you can have it without anaesthesia. Except, why would you not want something that will make you more comfortable. If your dentist or endodontist is good at giving anesthesia, it would be very comfortabe. If, however, you mean surgery as in cutting the root, you will definitely want and need anesthesia for that.

Most Dentists or: Oral surgeons will do root canals under straight local anesthetic (la). Rarely is any other kind of sedation needed. I can tell you that after having three root canals the la was quite sufficient. I later used some Motrin when the block wore off. Hope that this helps.

Yes: Yes root canal treatment usually hurts without local anesthesia. In some special cases, such as tooth without pulp tissue and without puss, a root canal can be completed without anesthesia on a tolerant patient but why would you want to?