Beauty and the treatment of addiction

Drug and alcohol addiction are highly destructive, reaping significant damage on society, on addicts, and on their families and friends. The past century has seen a vast increase in the treatment of addiction, but these methods have failure rates of 50% or greater. This work seeks an alternative approach to addiction treatment, using the concept of reflective aesthetic judgment presented by Immanuel Kant in the Critique of Judgment. This approach is justified by an examination of the experiences of addicts, working from the problem as it is understood to a possible solution. Because the problem is an inadequacy of willpower, cognitive treatment methods are unlikely to be successful. An aesthetic conception of treatment, which appeals to a common human aesthetic sense for the beautiful, offers a non-cognitive method that is universally communicable. This would appeal to people trapped in the isolated and alienated experience of addiction. The focus is a philosophical understanding of the mechanism of addiction, and identifying some of the necessary conditions for treatment of it. In light of this, suggestions are given for possible components of such treatment, such as art therapy, spiritual practices, and appreciation of nature.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Philosophy

Grantor dc:publisher

Colorado State University. Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Authors dc:creator

• Czyszczewski, Justin, author
• Kneller, Jane, advisor
• Stallones, Lorann, committee member
• Tropman, Elizabeth, committee member

• aesthetics
• Kant
• judgment
• addiction

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.

Language dc:language.iso

eng, English

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25675/3.018550

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:mountainscholar.org:10217/167180