Gustavus Adolphus College Professor of Philosophy and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Peg O’Connor is featured in the Monday, Jan. 9 edition of The New York Times. O’Connor’s article titled “In the Cave: Philosophy and Addiction,” is part of a Times series called The Stone, which regularly features the writing of contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.
O’Connor’s piece is part of a larger project to bring the discipline of philosophy to discussions about addiction, relapse, and recovery, as she is currently working on a book titled, On the Rocks Is a Form of Life: Philosophy and Addiction. In the near future, O’Connor will begin an A.A. Heckman Fellowship at the Hazelden Foundation where she will be searching the archives to discover what influence the philosopher and psychologist William James had on the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous.
In her piece printed by The New York Times, O’Connor writes, “Philosophy is one of the oldest areas of inquiry. Out of control behavior fueled by alcohol and other drugs is one of the world’s oldest problems. What could these old timers offer each other? Philosophy has a long, stable relationship with reason and more specifically, the relationship between reason, emotions and the will. Addiction seems to involve a total abdication of reason, a messy tangle of emotions and a lack of will.” The article can be read in its entirety online.
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