Hanna Pickard, "What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?: A Philosophy of Addiction" (Princeton UP, 2026)

About this episode

Dr. Hanna Pickard discusses her revolutionary new paradigm for understanding addiction in her book.

Dr. Hanna Pickard has written a revolutionary new paradigm for understanding addiction. Why do people with addiction use drugs self-destructively? Why don’t they quit out of self-concern? Why does the rat in the experiment, alone in a cage, press the lever again and again for cocaine—to the point of death? In this pathbreaking book What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?: A Philosophy of Addiction (Princeton UP, 2026), Johns Hopkins University professor Pickard proposes a new paradigm for understanding the puzzle of addiction. For too long, our thinking has been hostage to a false dichotomy: either addiction is a brain disease, or it is a moral failing. Pickard argues that it is neither, and that both models stifle addiction research and fail people who need help. Drawing on her expertise as an academic philosopher and her clinical work in a therapeutic community, Pickard explores the meaning of drugs for people with addiction and the diverse factors that keep them using despite the costs. People use drugs to cope with suffering—but also to self-harm, or even to die. Some identify as “addicts," while others are in denial or struggle with cravings and…

People in this episode

Guest: Hanna Pickard

Topics covered

• addiction
• philosophy
• drug use
• mental health

Keywords

• cocaine
• self-destruction
• brain disease
• moral failing
• addiction research

Mentioned in this episode

Products: What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?: A Philosophy of Addiction

Books & works: What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?, What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing But Cocaine?: A Philosophy of Addiction, Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America, Addiction, Inc.: Medication-Assisted Treatment and America's Forgotten War on Drugs

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