TreaTmenT
Hole in tHe
Looking to the
philosophers can give us
valuable understanding
of the nature of
addiction, suggests
Albert Yates
O
n the face of it, Classical Greek
philosophy and the psychology of
addiction are not natural bedfellows.
Bringing both disciplines together to
produce a plausible theory of
addiction might seem unlikely.
However, this is less so when addictive behaviour is
seen for what it is: human behaviour.
To better understand human behaviour, we would
do well to acknowledge the work of our intellectual
ancestors – Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These
Classical Greek philosophers spent their lives trying to
understand the way human beings behave. Choice,
motivation, personal responsibility, desire, and excess
are but a few aspects of human action they explored.
In modern times, these are among the areas of
human behaviour that practitioners in the field of
addiction seek to understand.
6 | drinkanddrugsnews | June 2019
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