GOING BEYOND THE LIMITS OR THE LIMIT OF GOING OUT: ADDICTION IN THE SPACE OF SOCIAL DETERMINATION

Abstract

The article carries out a socio-philosophical analysis of the phenomenon of addiction as an ambivalent experience that unfolds in the space of social determination. The author shows that understanding the phenomenon of addiction can go beyond the boundaries of familiar social representations, stigmatization, and prejudices, opening up the possibility of its philosophical understanding as the subject's desire to overcome socially conditioned limitations, or as a manifestation of the inability to take such a step. Addiction, in this context, is interpreted not only as a deviation from the norm but also as a symptom of deep existential tension, a response to the frustration of the needs for freedom, meaning, and self-realization. The article examines the historical and cultural origins of the use of pleasure substances, which were once symbols of transcendence and social integration, but over time have acquired other forms of influence. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the concepts of Wolfgang Schievelbusch, Erich Fromm, Michel Foucault, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Georges Bataille, which allow us to interpret addiction as a form of existential search, a borderline experience through which a person tries to rethink himself, his boundaries, and values. The article emphasizes that addiction, which is based on a destructive nature, can contain the potential for internal transformation. The author carries out a philosophical analysis of the relationship between addiction and individual freedom, considering addiction as a point of intense conflict between personal choice and socially conditioned restrictions, which can lead to deep internal crises or even fatal consequences, and as a borderline experience in which self-destruction and the desire for self-overcoming, freedom and authoritarian control intersect. This approach, representing addiction not only as an individual tragedy, but also as a symptom of deeper social transformations, where personal pain acquires a collective dimension, opens up the possibility of reflecting in a new way the limits of human subjectivity and ways of existing in a socially determined world.