Hanna Pickard: What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing but Cocaine?

We are pleased to invite you to the fall edition of the Medical Humanities Speaker Series.

Our speaker will be Hanna Pickard, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins University. She will give a presentation on her new book on addiction, which should be of interest to faculty and students in various disciplines.

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

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 11, 2026 5-6:30 p.m.

Location: Bishop Dougherty University Center, Event Room (Rm. 106)

Description: Addiction science is at an impasse. Rates of addiction remain high. Translational results from decades of research conducted within the dominant brain disease paradigm are shockingly meager. Meanwhile, theories of addiction multiply and compete, fomenting disagreement about something as apparently simple as how addiction should be defined. Ultimately the cost of this impasse is borne by people with addiction themselves. Drawing on philosophy together with sources ranging from the history of the science of animal models to the voices of people who live with addiction, I present a new paradigm that shifts our gaze away from a broken brain and onto the psychology and humanity of people who struggle with drugs.

Speaker bio: Hanna Pickard, Ph.D., is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics and Krieger-Eisenhower Professor at Johns Hopkins University, jointly appointed in the William H. Miller III Department of Philosophy and the Berman Institute of Bioethics and secondarily appointed in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Her book What Would You Do Alone in a Cage with Nothing but Cocaine? was published in 2026 by Princeton University Press.

The talk is free and open to all members of the Seton Hall University community. No registration is required. It is generously sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences. We hope to see you all there!

Categories: Education, Health and Medicine