Addicts, Mythmakers and Philosophers: Socrates on Self-Mastery

The main argument of the article as a whole is that addiction is much more than it is led on to be.  When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that personal experience may be rare, but addiction has affected your life in some way (Graff 26).  Whether that be a family member, friend, colleague or simply hearing about it in the media, it is prevalent; and therefore, addiction should be talked about to rid it of the stigma that this problem should make you feel embarrassed and like you cannot talk about it.  Within the article by Alan Brody, I have chosen to focus on the section titled, "Socrates on Self-Mastery". 

Brody himself writes, "Socrates holds that when we know the good we will choose to do it, he attributes to temptation a power to distort what we think is good" (Graff 46, Brody).  I agree with this statement.  The thought process being, the addict has a choice, whether to fall into the trap again to allow the bad to tempt you into doing the deed again.  The author, Brody, advocates, Socrates' suggestion that knowledge is all we need to defeat the temptations (Graff 39, Brody). In other words, knowledge allows a person to avoid being deceived about what the right decision is and to continue by pursuing the true good (Graff 135, Brody).


"It means having the right kind of ability to both choose and do what is best, and this is what having self-mastery means" (Brody).  With that being said, my argument would fight Brody's concluding statement, "When we realize that luck is required to put into place what was needed in order to have what would have enabled us to have done better, more compassion might arise towards ourselves and others, as we see how the trouble we bring about is also what fortune sets up for us." I find parts of the article contradictory saying that the choice inquires knowledge but then later stating it's all luck.  But on the other hand, I still insist that if everyone is properly educated about habits or substances that you can easily get addicted to, it is one hundred percent your choice to consume that drug or to perform that task (Graff 89). Granted, some situations and backgrounds prove harder to come out clean, but it still can be done because the choice is yours.  Brody claims, "...one fails to choose to do the good one previously preferred because one doesn’t have the ability (the know-how) to see it as the better alternative (perhaps only momentarily). To do what is best one must therefore develop this ability/know-how" (Brody).  The argument that if the addict never makes the right, positive decision, things will never change because the person never sees the bright side of doing what is right.  

I agree with this article to some extent.  Brody's concepts are intriguing but I do see contradictory statements within the piece that make it hard to complete agree with.  

Brody, Alan. "Addicts, Mythmakers and Philosophers." Philosophy Now. 

Philosophy Now, 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <https://philosophynow.org/issues/90/Addicts_Mythmakers_and_Philosophers>.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. They Say / I Say. 3rd ed. New York: 

W.W. Norton, 2015. Print.