"Thomistic Hylomorphism, Self-Determination, Neuroplasticity, and Grace: The Case of Addiction"
A version of this paper was presented at the 85th Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO, October 28-30, 2011. For a citable version see the forthcoming, “Thomistic Hylomorphism, Self-Determination, Neuroplasticity, and Grace: The Case of Addiction” in the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association: Science, Reason, and Religion, Vol. 85,
(2012).
This paper presents a Thomistic analysis of addiction that incorporates scientific, philosophical and theological... more This paper presents a Thomistic analysis of addiction that incorporates scientific, philosophical and theological features of addiction. I will argue first, that a Thomistic hylomorphic anthropology provides a cogent explanation of the causal interactions between human action and neuroplasticity. I employ Karol Wojtyła’s account of self-determination to further clarify the kind of neuroplasticity involved in addiction. Next, I will elucidate how a Thomistic anthropology can accommodate, without reductionism, both the neurophysiological and psychological elements of addiction, and finally, I will make clear how Thomism can provide an ethics and theology of grace that can be integrated with these ontological and scientific considerations into a holistic theory of addiction.
Addiction within a Thomistic Philosophical Anthropology: A Conceptual Analysis
Draft Only. (N.b. I have substantially revised some key concepts employed within this paper; an updated version is coming soon)
A version of this paper was presented at, 2011 CUA Graduate Philosophy Conference, on “Addiction, Vice, and the Possibility of Moral Reform,” at The Catholic University of American, Washington D.C., March 17-18, 2011.
See the diagrams attached at the end.
Addiction within a Thomistic Philosophical Anthropology: A Conceptual Analysis by Daniel D. De Haan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at stthom.academia.edu.
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In this paper I analyze the phenomenon of addiction from the perspective of a Thomistic philosophical anthropology.... more
In this paper I analyze the phenomenon of addiction from the perspective of a Thomistic philosophical anthropology. Many insights from Karol Wotjyła's Thomistic Personalism have been integrated into my analysis. I present an alternative analysis of addiction to the disease theory and weak-willed theories of addiction by placing the etiological center of addiction principally in our vital appetites. Addiction, I argue, is an acquired vital appetite. This is supported by the contemporary neurological research which is showing that both substance and behavior addictions co-opt - through neural and synaptic plasticity - the natural rewards centers of our brain. These are the neurophysiological substrates for our vital appetites. These appetites are able to activate our somatic or viseral affections which brings into our conscious awareness the drive or need to fulfill some urge which will satiate these visercal factors. Thomas Aquinas' notion of the cogitative power is brought into to account for the spontaneous apprehensions and evaluations of these viseral factors and the satisfying conditions which are teleologically associated with their cessation.
This paper focuses primarily on theoretical concerns and only suggests how this theoretical schema could be applied.
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