Aristotle said that drunkards “are in the habit of developing an artificial thirst … they are defeated by pleasures which most master”. They are incontinent and therefore behave akratically. 2,000 years later, Davidson said that an addict “has no reason” when she akratically indulges against her desire to desist. This year Heather and Segal say that Davidson is right and “addiction is a class of akratic action”. It appears that for millennia philosophers have believed that addiction is adequately described as akrasia. It is time to think again - there are weaknesses in an akratic description of addiction.
Monday 19 October 18:00-19:45
Dar Ġużeppi Zahra, Room 103 (number 28 on the campus map)
This is the first of a series of sessions that the Philosophy Postgraduate Reading Group (PPRG) in conjunction with the Department of Philosophy will organise throughout this academic year 2015/16. The session will be led by Alan Clarke, who has just completed an M.A. in Contemporary Western Philosophy. The talk will draw on his dissertation, and is titled "The Weakness of an Akratic Description of Addiction".
This reading group is intended for current and recent postgraduates, doctoral students and academics researching within or bordering the field of philosophy. The aim is to have a speaker lead a session, presenting one's research or work in progress. The speaker can also propose a text (10-20 pages) written by a thinker s/he is familiar with or has written a dissertation about, which the group will then analyse and debate. Prior to the meeting, participants are expected to read any sources provided. Undergrads are encouraged to attend.
Rather than sticking to one philosophical perspective, this reading group enables a fruitful and stimulating engagement with a vast array of conceptual tools, enriching the analysis of issues which have dominated the history of thought and which are still of great relevance to the present.