Toward a Phenomenology of Addiction: Embodiment, Technology, Transcendence

Description

This book addresses an epidemic that has developed on a global scale, and, which under the heading of “addiction,” presents a new narrative about the travails of the human predicament. The book introduces phenomenological motifs, such as desire, embodiment, and temporality, to uncover the existential roots of addiction, and develops Martin Heidegger’s insights into technology to uncover the challenge of becoming a self within the impulsiveness and depersonalization of our digital age. By charting a new path of philosophical inquiry, the book allows a pervasive, cultural phenomenon, ordinarily reserved to psychology, to speak as a referendum about the danger which technology poses to us on a daily basis. In this regard, addiction ceases to be merely a clinical malady, and instead becomes a “signpost” to exposing a hidden danger posed by the assimilation of our culture within a technological framework. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiv Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Seeking a Philosophical Perspective (Frank Schalow)....Pages 3-23 Everydayness and the “Norm” of Addictive Practices (Frank Schalow)....Pages 25-45 The Phenomenon of the Body and the “Hook” of Addiction (Frank Schalow)....Pages 47-68 Confronting the Forces of Self-Deception (Frank Schalow)....Pages 69-87 Technology and the Rise of the Artifice (Frank Schalow)....Pages 89-113 Front Matter ....Pages 115-115 From Theology to Therapy: A Genealogical Account (Frank Schalow)....Pages 117-141 In Search of a New Discourse: Resetting Priorities (Frank Schalow)....Pages 143-159 From Excess to Economy: The Elements of Recovery (Frank Schalow)....Pages 161-177 Back Matter ....Pages 179-191