Category Archives: Psychology

ADDICTION AND VIRTUE

I began this book on a few occasions, but abandoned it due to other pressing reading.  I’m glad I came back to it and read it in its entirety.
If you want to get a fresh (and ancient!) take on addiction, philosopher Kent Dunnington has produced the right book.  Using folks like Aristotle and Aquinas the author charts a fresh way to understand addictions.  He points to the ancient idea of habits as a way “beyond” models that hold to either disease or choice as the culprits.  
There is much food for thought in this taut and well-reasoned book.

LITERATURE’S POWER

“I think the best psychologists are actually fiction writers,” Konnikova said. “Their understanding of the human mind is so far beyond where we’ve been able to get with psychology as a science.”

The narrow focus required by scientific research can miss the big picture, Konnikova said; researchers often tinker around the edges of wisdom elucidated by novelists a hundred years ago. “You need the careful experimentation, but you also need to take a step back and realize that fiction writers are seeing a broader vista and are capable of providing you with insights or even ideas for studies.”

The rest is here: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/33945/title/It-s-Elementary/