Phenomenology of Addiction

International Conference 

4th June 2024 

In a recent interview Ireland’s Minister of State at the department of Health highlighted the significance of focusing on the lived experience of drug users. Emphasis on lived experience is nowadays considered as the state of art in psychopathology. Not surprisingly to those familiar with the history of philosophy, such an emphasis is most often linked to the philosophical movement of phenomenology. This hybrid conference brings together philosophers and researchers working on addiction to discuss different ways in which phenomenology can help us shed light upon and reach a better understanding of addiction.

The conference has the following 4 objectives:

1. To examine the extent to which phenomenology can function as a theoretical framework that shifts our assumptions about addictive behaviour.
2. To reconsider the categories that have been used historically to capture “pathological” or “deviant” behaviours of people with addictions.
3. To develop the conceptual tools that can help us understand how addicted persons relate to the world, others and their own body. 
4. To discuss healing strategies and how important it is to cultivate new ways of relating to oneself, others and the world in the process of recovery. 

Info

Organizers: Dr. Georgios Petropoulos, Christina Petropoulou

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/phenomenology-of-addiction-tickets-799885829047?aff=oddtdtcreator

The programme of the event is available (opens in a new window)here

Sponsors: Society for Applied Philosophy, the Mind Association and the UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life.

For inquiries please email Dr Georgios Petropoulos: (opens in a new window)georgios.petropoulos@ucd.ie

Schedule

9:00-9:20 Introduction

9:20-10:00 Martha Griffin, Clóda Ní Greachain, Líam Mac Gabhann, “Deconstructing ‘addiction’ within a living experience world view” (Mad in Ireland)

10:00-10:40 Anna Westin, “Becoming self: The mystical draw of substance” (St Mellitus College)

10:40-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-11:40 Marcin Moskalewicz & Albert Lukasik, “Temporal experience in addiction” (Heidelberg University/Poznan University of Medical Sciences)

11:40-12:20 Ryan Kemp, “The unexpected crisis of addiction: Sobriety” (Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust)

12:20-13:00 Ion Copoeru, “Lived experience of recovery: Methodological considerations for investigatiting the micro-dynamics of peer support groups” (Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-
Napoca)

13:00-14:30 Lunch Break

14:30-15:10 Guilherme Messas, “Is there such a thing as comorbidity in addiction? And why it matters” (Ciências Médicas da Santa Casa de Sao Paulo)

15:10-15:50 Zoey Lavallee, “Loneliness and addiction” (McGill University)

15:50-16:10 Coffee break

16:10 -16:50 Gerda Reith, “Narcotic Time: Identity, Memory, and the Phenomenology of Addiction” (University of Glasgow)

16:50-17:30 Georgios Petropoulos & Christina Petropoulous, “Toward a phenomenologically informed account of self-medication and substance misuse” (Newcastle University/University
College Dublin & Simon Community Dublin)