Addiction and Choice: Rethinking the Relationship

Views on addiction are often polarised - either addiction is a matter of choice, or addicts simply can't help themselves. But perhaps addiction falls between the two? This book contains views from philosophy, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychology, and the law exploring this middle ground between free choice and no choice.

Nick Heather, Emeritus Professor of Alcohol & Other Drug Studies, Northumbria University,Gabriel Segal, Professor of Philosophy, King's College, London

Nick Heather is Emeritus Professor of Alcohol & Other Drug Studies at Northumbria University. After working as a clinical psychologist in the NHS, he developed the Addictive Behaviours Research Group at the University of Dundee. In 1987 he became founding Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. He returned to the UK in 1994 as Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Newcastle City Health NHS Trust and as Director of the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Studies. He took up his present position on retirement from the NHS in 2003. He has published over 500 scientific articles, books, book chapters and other publications, with an emphasis on the treatment of alcohol problems and alcohol brief interventions.

Gabriel Segal has a B.A. in Philosophy (first class honours) from University College London (1981), a B. Phil. (with overall distinction) from the University of Oxford (1983) and a PhD in Philosophy from M.I.T. (1987). He was Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987-89). He was Lecturer, Reader, then Professor of Philosophy at King's College, London (1989-present) and was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Reading (2012-2103). He is author (with Richard K. Larson) of Knowledge of Meaning: An Introduction to Semantic Theory MIT Press (1995); A Slim Book about Narrow Content, MIT Press (2000) and Twelve Steps to Psychological Good Health and Serenity: a Guide, Grosvenor House Publishing (2013).