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The instrumental rationality of addiction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2011

Hanna Pickard
Hanna Pickard
Affiliation:
Oxford Centre for Neuroethics, Department of Philosophy, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 1PT; All Souls College, Oxford OX1 4AL; Complex Needs Service, Oxford Health NHS Trust, Oxford OX4 1XE, United Kingdom. h.pickard@gmail.com http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/members/hanna_pickard
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Abstract

The claim that non-addictive drug use is instrumental must be distinguished from the claim that its desired ends are evolutionarily adaptive or easy to comprehend. Use can be instrumental without being adaptive or comprehensible. This clarification, together with additional data, suggests that Müller & Schumann's (M&S's) instrumental framework may explain addictive, as well as non-addictive consumption.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 6 , December 2011 , pp. 320 - 321
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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