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Everyone knows smoking is addictive. The nicotine is physically addictive and the motion of dragging or puffing a cigarette can also be mentally addicting. Our body does not really need to perform the motion of puffing or dragging a cigarette; however those that are addicted are compelled to do so. According to NY Times’ article, “In Clue to Addiction, Brain Injury Halts Smoking” injury to a certain part of the brain can stop one’s smoking addiction. Studies have shown that people with an injury to the insula.

The insula (insular cortex) is believed to be an important role in producing “emotionally relevant context for sensory experience (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex).” There is research that suggests the insula in conscious desires like food craving and drug craving.

The author of the article seems to be convinced that addiction is purely based on the brain. Researchers from the University of Iowa and the University of Southern California studied 32 former smokers, who had suffered a brain injury; the participants smoked at least five cigarettes a day for two years or more, and 16 of them said they had quit with ease, losing their cravings entirely. M.R.I. scans showed that the 16 patients who quit easily were more likely to have had suffered an injury to their insula.

How do people without injury to their insula break the habit of smoking? The article implies that those quitters have a harder time and will always feel a slight desire to smoke. “Most smokers who manage to quit do so only after repeated attempts, and the craving for cigarettes usually lasts for years, if not a lifetime (NY Times).” However they did accomplish their goal: not smoking.

It seems a little strange to say that you need a soul to quit smoking, but obviously there is more to one’s desires, actions, decisions, etc. than just the mind. Is will power something one produces through the brain or through one’s soul?

I believe that I am sitting on the fence between Descartes and Dickinson.