Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3117: Philosophy and Psychedelics

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

(Whilst the precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover all or some of the following topics.)

We begin with a couple of sessions introducing the History and Philosophy of Psychedelics

The Philosophy of Psychedelics is a new field, yet concerns a long history. We begin with an overview of the multifarious philosophic facets of this subject, to gain a comprehensive perspective on the current psychedelic renaissance.

We then discuss in more detail, over the following eight weeks:

- Philosophy of mind, consciousness, and psychedelics

- The biopolitics and bioeconomy of psychedelics

- Creativity and aesthetics vis-à-vis psychedelics

- Perennialism and Contextualism: Western mysticism and Non-Western Indigenous approaches

- Metaphysics and psychedelics: Interpreting psychedelic experience through metaphysical systems

- Transpersonal and environmental ethics and psychedelics

The module will close with an overall discussion about the cross-cutting nature of the topic across philosophical sub-disciplines and how a comprehensive philosophy of psychedelics might be possible.

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
22	128	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	11x 40 minute lecture and 11x 80 minute seminars
Guided independent studies	48	Reading and Research
Guided independent study	20	Preparation and recording of presentation
Guided independent study	38	Preparation and Writing of Essay

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).

TEDx Talk 'Psychedelics and Consciousness' by Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes: https://youtu.be/tV8PSevhd_M

Erowid: 60 000 pages of online information about psychoactive drugs, plants, chemicals, etc.:

https://www.erowid.org/

Philosophy and Psychedelics conference (Exeter): www.philosophyofpsychedelics.com

Breaking Convention, conference videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/BreakingConvention/videos

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.

We will read chapters from our forthcoming book Sjöstedt-Hughes, P. & Hauskeller, C. (eds.), Philosophy and Psychedelics, Bloomsbury 2021

And supplement it with texts such as:

Baier, K. (forthcoming) High Mysticism: On the interplay between the psychedelic movement and academic study of mysticism

Benjamin, W. (1927–34) On Hashish

Foucault, M. (1970) Theatrum Philosophicum

Gibson, L. (2013) A Whiteheadian Perspective on Psychedelic Experience and Research: An Update

Hofmann, A. (1979) LSD: My Problem Child

Huxley, A. (1954) The Doors of Perception

James, W. (1902) The Varieties of Religious Experience

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

Pollan, M. (2018) How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics

Russell, B. (1910) Mysticism and Logic

Thompson, S. J. (2014) From ‘Rausch’ to Rebellion: Walter Benjamin’s On Hashish and the Aesthetic Dimensions of Prohibitionist Realism

Ward, R. H. (1957) A Drug-Taker's Notes