Powerlessness and responsibility in twelve step narratives

In Jerome A. Miller & Nicholas Plants (eds.), Sobering Wisdom: Philosophical explorations of twelve step spirituality. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. pp. 30-41 (2014)
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Abstract

The literature of Twelve Step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous contains apparently contradictory implications regarding powerlessness and personal responsibility. In this essay I examine the treatment of these concepts in Twelve Step literature and their implications for the self-conception of people in these programs. In the first section, I examine the literature to demonstrate that addicts are presented as powerless over, yet responsible for, their addictive behaviors. In the second section, I outline two potential ways people in Twelve Step programs might reconcile this contradiction within their self-conception, but I argue that neither is satisfactory. In the third section, I draw on Paul Ricoeur's theory of narrative identity to develop an account of how someone ni a Twelve Step group could coherently understand herself as both powerless and responsible.

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Mary Jean Walker
La Trobe University

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