Session 09: Addiction discussion

Control

How much control can we establish?

Fictional case

Jordan keeps drinking despite serious costs. On some occasions, Jordan turns down a drink when something else matters more.

What does this tell us about Jordan’s ability to refrain on one occasion?

What would show an ability to change the pattern over time?

What evidence would change your judgment, and what could it establish?

Consider difficulty, available alternatives, and the conditions under which control succeeds.

May, ch. 5, pp. 128–133. Pickard, ch. 6, pp. 81–92.

Addiction, obsession, or intense pursuit?

Alcohol

Continues drinking despite serious costs and repeated attempts to cut back.

Which features make this look like addiction?

Ben Affleck as Jack Cunningham in The Way Back

Addiction, obsession, or intense pursuit?

Caffeine

Drinks coffee daily. Missing it brings a headache, but use causes little disruption.

Addiction?

How much should the absence of serious costs matter?

Samuel Murray, Providence College philosophy

May, ch. 5, pp. 133–135. Photo: Duke Imagination and Modal Cognition Lab.

Addiction, obsession, or intense pursuit?

Chocolate

Craves chocolate every day and spends a lot of money buying expensive varieties.

When does enthusiasm become a problem?

Would the person’s budget or ability to cut back change your judgment?

An unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss milk chocolate

May, ch. 5, pp. 133–135, 141–143. Product image: The Hershey Company.

Addiction, obsession, or intense pursuit?

Music

Organizes life around practice and accepts substantial sacrifices for it.

Does an admired goal change how we judge the sacrifices?

Miles Teller as Andrew Neiman playing drums in Whiplash

May, ch. 5, pp. 133–135, 141–143. Photo: Daniel McFadden / Sony Pictures Classics.

Responsibility

What is the person responsible for?

Further hypothetical

Jordan drinks, misses a work shift, and leaves a colleague covering alone.

Does responsibility for drinking settle responsibility for missing the shift?

What would we need to know about Jordan’s knowledge, control, and available options?

Could we expect repair or change without hostile blame?

What responsibilities might fall on other people or institutions?

May, ch. 5, pp. 119–120, 128–133, 143–144. Pickard, Introduction, pp. 11–17.

Science and explanation

What does “psychology first” put first?

Pickard’s starting point, paraphrased

Begin with what drug use does for this person, understood through their reasons and life circumstances.

Neuroscience can contribute. People’s accounts of themselves can be mistaken.

When should neural evidence supplement that explanation? When might it displace it?

What finding would count against a proposed psychological explanation?

Pickard, Introduction, pp. 6–10. PCN, ch. 14, pp. 470–476.

Competing perspectives

The case for and against psychology first

How could each perspective support the approach and challenge its priority?

Perspective	A case for starting here	A challenge to its priority
Brain disease	Reasons and experience help identify what neural mechanisms need to explain.	Neural evidence may reveal impairments that a person’s own account misses.
Social account	Life circumstances help explain why drug use matters to a person.	A focus on the individual may understate institutions and material conditions.

Which objection is strongest? How might Pickard answer?

What makes an explanation credible? What makes its use helpful or harmful?

Possible arguments for discussion. Background: Pickard, pp. 6–13; May, pp. 135–144; Heilig et al. (2021); Room (2021).

Closing reflection

What would change your mind?

Choose one judgment about addiction that you would now defend or revise.

Which argument or piece of evidence supports your judgment?

What further fact would you need before judging a particular person’s control or responsibility?

One minute to write, then compare with a partner.

May, PCN, and Pickard