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Articles

On Having One Too Many

Les Reid on the insights the demon drink can provide into the philosophy of mind.

The striking feature of having one too many (drinks, that is) is that you do not realise it yourself. You think that you are still simply enjoying the euphoria which the first couple of drinks brought you, whereas in fact you have long passed the zenith and are now clearly (to everyone else) sliding down into drunken incapacity. You are starting to slur your words and are becoming too assertive and opinionated for comfort.

A few moments previously you were in good spirits, literally, enjoying the banter and an alcohol-induced frame of mind which could be called ‘heightened sociability’. In this state everyone at the table, yourself included, seemed more than usually friendly and witty.

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