Module PHLM014 for 2021/2
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
PHLM014: Philosophy and Psychedelics
This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.
Module Aims
This module aims to provide a critical, pluralistic understanding of psychedelic substance use past and present, as well as a deeper, focussed understanding of certain emerging concerns related to problems of the mind and of power relations. As such, pivotal issues in philosophy can be used and developed in this exponentially growing field, such as:— the relation of ‘mental health’ to metaphysical, phenomenological, and political analyses of the ‘self’. The unfathomable extent of consciousness, and thus the extention of aesthetics and the augmentation of the subject and object of philosophies of mind. Related thereto arise questions of cognitive liberty, indigenous epistemicide, environmentalism, and the potential of future theologies of mysticism.
Students will gain knowledge of this emerging field, and therewith new arenas in which philosophical knowledge can be fruitfully applied. Moreover, students will realize and benefit from the web of interconnections that psychedelic research allows philosophy to weave throughout cultural and social anthropology, political science, neuroscience, theology, in addition to psychology and psychiatry.
The assessments include different skills, including the presentation of texts, the presentation of your ideas in front of an audience. You will be guided to write one article-length essay on a theme of your choice from the course.
| On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
|---|---|
| Module-Specific Skills | 1. demonstrate solid knowledge and understanding of multiple perspectives on psychedelic narratives. 2. demonstrate understanding of the problems of mind highlighted by psychedelic experience. 3. present your own analyses of the implications of theories on pressing debates of our time. |
| Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. demonstrate a high level of knowledge about psychedelic theories and their application 5. demonstrate sound knowledge of past and current debates in philosophic psychedelia. |
| Personal and Key Skills | 6. demonstrate capacity to conduct research independently 7. demonstrate aptitude for succinct oral presentations to groups 8. write reflective academic review and research essays |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Module content may vary annually as new developments take on new levels of importance, but generally the following content will apply. A number of guest lecturers are expected to participate in this module due to their relevant skill sets. The key text will be Philosophy and Psychedelics, eds. Hauskeller and Sjöstedt-Hughes (Bloomsbury, forthcoming).
- Overview of the relation of psychedelics to philosophy
- Psychedelics and the phenomenology and philosophy of mind
- Indigenous epistemologies and
- Biopiracy
- Psychedelic aesthetics: the sublime, the beautiful, the strange, and the ineffable
- Medicalization, inculcation, and global power relations
- Cognitive liberty: rights to exploration, recreation, and risk
- The metaphysics of psychedelics: Spinoza, Whitehead, Bergson, James
- Psychedelic nature connectedness and the ecological crisis
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 26 | 274 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour taught sessions - 30-minute lectures and 1.5 hour seminar discussion of readings for each 2-hour session. |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 4 | 2 x 2-hour facilitated tutorial with student presentations. |
| Guided Independent Study | 26 | Analyse one course reading and write a succinct summary of the key arguments of the text. |
| Guided Independent Study | 76 | Reading of the module texts for each week |
| Guided Independent Study | 44 | Prepare a presentation on the topic for essay and the key arguments from the literature in a dedicated course session. |
| Guided Independent Study | 128 | Writing independent research essay. Conduct guided and independent research on a theme from the course; write a scholarly essay to be submitted after the end of term. |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/
- Philosophy of Psychedelics Exeter Research Group: http://sites.exeter.ac.uk/philosophyandpsychedelics/
- Philosophy and Psychedelics conference (Exeter): www.philosophyofpsychedelics.com
- Erowid: 60 000 pages of online information about psychoactive drugs, plants, chemicals, etc.: https://www.erowid.org/
- Breaking Convention, conference videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/BreakingConvention/videos
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation of essay plan | 10 minutes | 1-4, 6, 7 | Oral |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 70 | 7,000 words | 1-6, 8 | Written |
| Reading Review | 10 | 1 x 800 words | 1-5, 8 | Written |
| Presentation of essay plan | 20 | 15 minutes | 1-4, 6, 7 | Oral |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Essay (7,000 words) | 1-5, 6, 8 | August/September reassessment period |
| Reading Review | Reading Summary (800 words) | 1-4, 6, 8 | August/September reassessment period |
| Presentation | Short essay (1500 words) | 1-4, 6, 8 | August/September reassessment period |
Re-assessment notes
The forms of re-assessment have the same credit percentage as their original form of assessment.
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Key text: Hauskeller, C., & Sjöstedt-Hughes, P. (forthcoming) Philosophy and Psychedelics (London: Bloomsbury)
Baier, K. (forthcoming) High Mysticism: On the interplay between the psychedelic movement and academic study of mysticism
Benjamin, W. (1927–34) On Hashish
Boothroyd, D. (2006) Culture on Drugs: Narco-cultural Studies of High Modernity
De Quincey, T. (1821) Confession of an English Opium Eater
Hofmann, A. (1979) LSD: My Problem Child
Huxley, A. (1956) Heaven and Hell
James, W. (1902) The Varieties of Religious Experience
James, W. (1897) Note to ‘On Some Hegelisms’, in: The Will to Believe
Jay, M. (2019) Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic
Lundborg, P. (2014) Note Towards a Definition of a Psychedelic Philosophy
Partridge, C. (2018) High Culture: Drugs, Mysticism, and the Pursuit of Transcendence in the Modern World
Shanon, B. (2002) The Antipodes of the Mind
Shulgin, A. & Shulgin, A. (1990) Pihkal: A Chemical Love Story
Suzuki, D. T. (1971) Religion and Drugs
Thompson, S. J. (2014) From ‘Rausch’ to Rebellion: Walter Benjamin’s On Hashish and the Aesthetic Dimensions of Prohibitionist Realism
Ustinova, Y. (2018) Divine Mania: Alterations of Consciousness in Ancient Greece
Zaehner, R. C. (1972) Zen, Drugs, and Mysticism
