08 November 2016

Anybody who plunges into the study of the problems of alcohol addiction very quickly meets such phrases as “the alcohol addiction is an illness” or depending on the literature chosen to its opposition from the traditional one “the alcohol addiction is debauchery” to a more sophisticated one “the alcohol addiction is a rational choice”. This debate could be considered useless, because from a philosophical point of view it's no matter how you name the phenomenon its essence remains unchanged, however, is not so simple. The contraposition illness – not illness isn’t a dispute of two friends, but a well-heard echo of at least two (actually much more) scientific and viewpoint paradigms.

Davies, John B. 1997. The myth of addiction. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic

When the personal cost of drinking or drug use becomes noticeable, it can   still be written off or excused as merely atypical. Addicts tend to orient their  activities around their addictive behavior; they may forego friends and activities  where drinking or drug use is not featured. Some may isolate themselves; others  may change their circle of friends in order to be with people who drink or use in the  same way they do. They engage in faulty yet persuasive alcoholic reasoning, willing  to take anything as evidence that they do not have a problem; no amount of  reasoning will persuade them otherwise. Each time the addict makes a promise to  cut down or stop but does not, the chains get more constricting. (“In the Cave: Philosophy and Addiction - NYTimes.com”, 2)