In the course of introducing readers to German writer and morphone addict Hans Fallada (1893–1947) in today’s British Medical Journal, Dalrymple wonders:
Do men choose philosophies, or philosophies men? A friend of mine, who has thought deeply about the question, thinks it is the latter: by which he means, of course, that it is one’s temperament rather than abstract considerations of truth that determines one’s world view. A cognate question is whether there is such a thing as the addictive personality, and if so, whether each drug has its corresponding personality. Or is it merely circumstances that addict the addict?
Read the whole thing (subscription required).