ABSTRACT
To develop a positive account of what addiction is, it is important to identify the psychological states that are characteristic of addiction. Some have argued that addiction involves a certain kind of belief, while others have argued that addiction involves a certain kind of desire. This chapter argues that both views are inadequate. To capture addiction, it is necessary to appeal to a notion of volition or willing. Addiction is distinguished by the intentions that it involves, and specifically the distinctive ways in which the addicted person forms and revises her intentions. This tendency is something like what some philosophers have called ‘weakness of will,’ though, from the perspective of a disability approach, that phrase can be recognized as a pejorative and ableist one.
