Professor of Philosophy and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Peg O'Connor
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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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510
Kudos to you, Peg!
Nice work, Peg! Congrats!
Peg,
Congratulations on a wonderful article in the New York Times, no less! Wow! I love the Philosophy/Recovery connection…especially the shadows/reality metaphor! It captures the “delusional” aspects of the disease that have been so hard to break through with even the best interventions in my experience! The comments that follow the article are fascinating…everyone has their own delusion!
Also, I’m a Philosophy major…U of Minn ’69…I look forward to the book!
Write on…confidently,
Pastor Rod
Ms. O’Connor:
I operate five chemical dependency treatment centers in Brazil and more than 25,000 patients have passed through our doors, and it has taken us a long time to realize what you stated: it´s philosophical, a reason to live differently and it does not happen overnight, treatment is not recovery.
Thank you for a real contribution to the field, I hope you continue to pursue it.
With your permission I´ll translate the article and distribute it to our folks.
Thank you,
John Burns
johnburns@vilaserena.com.br
http://www.vilaserena.com.br
P.S. If you ever get to Brazil. . .
Hi, Peg.
I met you up in Maine this summer with Ray and his mother. Ray and I really enjoyed the article, especially since we have a family member who is struggling with alcoholism. I was thinking that I’d like to have your thoughts on how to help someone who does not believe in “a higher power” begin the road to recovery.
Jayne Boisvert [jrboisvert@gmail.com]