Skip to main content

Neuroscience, Free Will, and Individual Responsibility: Implications for Addictive Behavior

  • Chapter
Human Nature and Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach
  • 142 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter demonstrates how cognitive neuroscience clearly challenges the traditional Standard Social Science Model (SSSM). Despite the rapid expansion of the understanding of brain structure and function in recent years, we still are in our infancy in terms of developing a unifying theory of how it operates. As a result, considerable controversy surrounds neuroscience in at least four broad areas: the mind/brain distinction; the organization of the brain; the impact of genetics on the brain; and the role of the brain in determining human behavior. After briefly discussing the first three of these concerns, the chapter focuses on the implications of the findings of neuroscience on our understanding of the role of the brain in human behavior particularly as it relates to addictive behavior, free will, and individual responsibility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Andreasen, Nancy C. (2001). Brave New Brain: Conquering Mental Illness in the Era of the Genome. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellugi, Ursula. (2001). Journey from Cognition to Brain to Gene. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blank, Robert H. and Samuel M. Hines, Jr. (2001). Biology and Political Science. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bootzin, Richard R., Joan Ross Acocella, and Lauren B. Alloy. (1993). Abnormal Psychology. New York: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Changeux, Jean-Pierre. (1997). Neuronal Man: The Biology of the Mind. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchland, Paul M. (1988). Matter and Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • (1995). The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey into the Brain. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crick, Francis. (1979). “Thinking about the Brain.” Scientific American 241: 219–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —. (1966). Of Molecules and Men. Seattle: U of Washington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crick, Francis and Christof Koch. (1992). The problem of consciousness. Scientific American (September): 1953–1959.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damasio, Antonio R. and Hanna Damasio. (1992). Brain and language. Scientific American (September): 89–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Fonseca, Rodriguez, Fernando, M. Rocio, A. Carrera et al. (1997). Activation of corticotropin-releasing factor in the limbic system during cannabinoid withdrawal. Science 276: 2050–2054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Degler, Carl. (1991). In Search of Human Nature. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, Daniel. (1984). Elbow Room. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Double, Richard. (1991). The Non-Reality of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. (1996). Metaphilosophy and Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • DuPont, Robert L. (1995). The Selfish Brain: Learning from Addiction. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elster, Jon. (1999). Strong Feelings: Emotion, Addiction, and Human Behavior. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazzaniga, Michael S. (Ed.). (2000). The New Cognitive Neurosciences. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2nd edition.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goleman, Daniel. (1996). Brain images show science of addiction. Sarasota Herald-Tribune August 11: Al.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman-Rakic, Patricia S. (1992). Working memory and the mind. Scientific American (September): 111–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harth, Erich. (1993). The Creature Loop: How the Brain Makes a Mind. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kandel, Eric R. and Robert D. Hawkins. (1992). The biological basis of learning and individuality. Scientific American (September): 79–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kane, Robert. (1996). The Significance of Free Will. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kosslyn, Stephen M. and Oliver Koenig. (1992). Wet Mind: The New Cognitive Science. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotulak, Ronald. (1996). Inside the Brain. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leshner, Alan I. (1997). Addiction is a brain disease, and it matters. Science 278: 45–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, J. R. (1993). Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Masters, Roger D. (1994). Why study serotonin, social behavior, and the law? In Roger Masters and Michael McGuire (Eds.), The Neurotransmitter Revolution. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, Jonathon. (1992). Trouble in mind. Scientific American (September): 180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelkin, Dorothy and M. Susan Lindee. (1995). The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Culture Icon. New York: W. H. Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nestler, Eric J. and George K. Aghajanian. (1997). Molecular and cellular basis of addiction. Science 278: 58–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Restak, Richard M. (1994). The Modular Brain. New York: Simon and Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, Alwyn. (1995). Stairway to the Mind: The Controversial New Science of Consciousness. New York: Copernicus.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Solowij, Nadia, Robert S. Stephens, Roger A. Raffman et al. (2002). Cognitive functioning of long-term heavy cannabis users seeking treatment. Journal of the American Medical Association 287: 1123–1131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tanda, G., E E. Pontieri, and G. DiChiara. (1997). Cannabinoid and heroin activation of mesolimbic dopamine transmission by a common ul opioid receptor mechanism. Science 276: 2048–2050.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teicher, Martin H. (2002). The neurobiology of child abuse. Scientific American (March): 68–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trusted, Jennifer. (1984). Free Will and Responsibility. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, Henrik. (2001). Neurophilosophy of Free Will. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, Elliott. (1992). The End of the Empty Organism: Neurobiology and the Sciences of Human Action. Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiegele, Thomas C. (1979). Biopolitics: Search for a More Humane Political Science. Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, Edward O. (1978). On Human Nature. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise, R. A. (1988). The neurobiology of craving: Implications for understanding and treatment of addiction. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 97: 118–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, Susan. (1990). Freedom within Reason. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2003 Albert Somit and Steven A. Peterson

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Blank, R.H. (2003). Neuroscience, Free Will, and Individual Responsibility: Implications for Addictive Behavior. In: Somit, A., Peterson, S.A. (eds) Human Nature and Public Policy: An Evolutionary Approach. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403982094_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics