Episode
Addiction, Faith, and the Limits of Willpower (with Meghan O'Gieblyn)
EconTalk · Oct 5, 2026 · 1 h 09 min
Why do we keep doing things we know we shouldn't? And is that really a failure of will? Author Meghan O'Gieblyn spent years trying to answer that question, first in response to her struggle with alcoholism and her loss of faith, and then by means of Simone Weil, William James, and Iris Murdoch, who argue that the will is powerless over the things we want to change most. Listen as she speaks with…