Please address the following issue. Be as clear as you possibly can. It would be

Question

Please address the following issue. Be as clear as you possibly can. It would be useful to pretend you are explaining this to a friend

Harry G. Frankfurt gives us the following thought experiment:

“Suppose … a willing addict, who would not have things any other way. If the grip of his addiction should somehow weaken, he would do whatever he could to reinstate it; if his desire for the drug should begin to fade, he would take steps to renew its intensity.”

The question: Does the addict have free will? Why or why not? (Note: If you say yes, it’s a trap. If you say no, it’s also a trap. So you’ll have to say “Yes, but …” or “No, but …”

Explanation / Answer

The academic question of whether a human being has free will or not, itself has found many experts on each sides with inconclusive debates. Certainly one can argue that the information our mind process itself is not at our discreation and hence the mind can process only what is available to it and using its own biological substrate which is under constraints of physical world. So let us bring down the question to "whether an addict under more constraints than a normal human being in the exercise of his/her mental faculties" for clarity of thought. The answer to that is a defenite yes given the fact that the neurons of addicted brain prefer easy dopaminergic pathways through rewiring itself and body craves the use of addictive substances. When undergoing withdrawal symptoms, mind is unable to follow its usual course and busy fighting the body responses and finding out immediate solution which is quite often get another dose of the addictive substance. Also under the influence of most of the addictive substances , mind is working in a different modality than it were without the substance. During these times reality touch is lost or compromised which is a situation that can be called 'one is not in control of his /her mind' . But the proposition is not a hopeless one. We have evidence that psychotherapy quite often helps and people have quit addiction. This survival is based on other aspects of the mind which can modulate itself for longer term performance in the culturally accepted ways.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse P
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.