Addiction: A Philosophical Perspective argues that, contrary to currently prevailing discourse, addiction should be understood neither as a disease nor as a matter of choice, but as an irreducible emergent phenomenon. Employing a complex dynamic systems approach and philosophical methodology, this book analyzes addiction as an irreducible neurobiological, psychological developmental, environmental, and sociological phenomenon. The analysis of addiction that is offered provides a way of understanding the systematic miscommunication that occurs between addicts and their friends and family, as well as offering hope for affecting successful transitions out of addictive patterns and into more valuable and meaningful lives.

Autorentext

Candice Shelby is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado at Denver, USA. She has published in the history of philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, and addiction, and has spoken at international venues on a variety of topics related to addiction. She is a popular lecturer in the national addictions recovery community.

Zusammenfassung

Addiction argues that addiction should be understood not as a disease but as a phenomenon that must be understood on many levels at once. Employing a complex dynamic systems approach and philosophical methodology, Shelby explains addiction as an irreducible neurobiological, psychological, developmental, environmental, and sociological phenomenon.

Inhalt

Introduction

1. Some Philosophical Questions (And a New Theory)
2. Addiction and the Individual
3. The Ecology of Addiction
4. The Culture of Addiction
5. Meaning and Addiction
6. Phenomenology
7. Possibilities for Change
8. Conclusion