Addiction as Entrenchment

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Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis HackethalOP revised 12 months ago·#732· Collapse
3rd of 5 versions

Conjecture: addiction is the result of the entrenchment of a conflict between two or more preferences in a mind.

Picture a smoker who wants to give up smoking but also really enjoys smoking. Those preferences conflict.

If the conflict is entrenched, then both preferences get to live on indefinitely. The entrenchment will not let the smoker give up smoking. He becomes a chain smoker.

Dennis Hackethal’s avatar

How is this theory new?

Criticism of #732Criticized3oustanding criticisms
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Dennis HackethalOP revised 12 months ago·#746· Collapse
2nd of 2 versions

Prevailing explanations (#734) attribute addiction to desensitization. My theory doesn’t do that.

Criticism of #733
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar

Prevailing explanations do not mention entrenchment. They do not refer to any epistemological concepts. My theory does.

Criticism of #733
Dennis Hackethal’s avatar

Prevailing explanations are immoral (#739) and false (#742). My theory does not have those flaws from the linked criticisms.

Criticism of #733