Why Hope? Reflections on Addiction and Psychedelics
A Philosophy in the Community event with philosophy professor Sarah Hoffman
Date: Friday, Sept. 13
Time: 7 pm
Location: The Refinery
Emmanuel Anglican (formerly St. James) Church Basement
607 Dufferin Avenue
About this event
A standard view of hope identifies it as a combination of desiring something and believing it possible but not certain. Adrienne Martin supplements this with the further idea that in hoping we also take ourselves to have sufficient reasons to engage in certain activities and feelings directed towards what we hope for. In this talk I explore these ideas and implications they have for understanding the role that hope and the capacity to hope seem to play in overcoming addiction. An account of hope like Martin’s illuminates this process and, additionally, why psychedelic-assisted therapy seems so promising for addressing substance use disorder.
Upcoming Events
Political Studies Speaker Series: Narrating Palestine in the Shadow of Ibadah
Oct 16, 2025
A talk in the Political Studies Speaker Series by Ghada Ageel, associate lecturer from the University of Alberta
Tariffs, Manufacturing Employment, and Supply Chains
Oct 16, 2025
A talk in the Economics Speaker Series by Dr. Joseph Steinberg (PhD)
Artist Talk by Mackenzie Browning (MFA'14)
Oct 17, 2025
Mackenzie Browning (MFA'14) is a Canadian artist whose primary media includes screen print, book arts and print based sculpture