Philosophy and Psychedelics: On Connectedness and Alienation

A Conversation with Dr. Christine Hauskeller and Dr. Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes
Wed. October 6th from 12-1:30pm PST

Join us for a discussion on the intersection of philosophy and psychedelics. Though there are a host of issues pertaining to this intersection, we shall look at two in particular: the philosophies of connectedness and alienation in relation to psychedelics. Sjöstedt-Hughes will focus upon the potential philosophic significance of the psychedelic-occasioned ‘nature-connectedness’ that recent empirical studies have suggested, looking at how such experience may relate to philosophies of metaphysical connection from thinkers such as Spinoza and A. N. Whitehead, and furthermore how such a philosophic-psychedelic perspective may help inform the philosophy of Deep Ecology. Hauskeller will focus on the other side of the coin: the alienation from nature and from oneself that has facilitated the colonization of the planet and of its people. Using especially Critical Theory, we shall speak of how Western ideologies of alienation justify extraction, oppression and detachment, invalidating other cosmologies. We shall explore how renewed psychedelic research may allow a shift away from such alienating ‘Enlightenment’ modes of thought – to a more, differently-enlightened, philosophy.

Dr Christine Hauskeller, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Exeter, specializes in the philosophy of biomedicine and moral and political philosophy. She works with approaches from feminist and postcolonial theory and the Frankfurt School, as well as critical theory more generally. Christine has published ten books and journal special issues, and more than a hundred articles and chapters – and she has served on numerous academic and regulatory decision-making panels. Concerned with the disciplinary limitation in which academia has engaged with psychedelics, Christine has been exploring the different ways in which contemporary philosophy can address aspects of psychedelic experience and practice, and in turn how psychedelics can inform philosophy. The new taught modules in philosophy and psychedelics that she and Peter will be teaching in the coming academic year are one step towards such inclusion, as well as the introductory book Philosophy and Psychedelics they have edited together that will be published with Bloomsbury in 2022.

Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is philosopher of mind and of metaphysics who specialises in the thought of Spinoza, Nietzsche, and Whitehead, and in fields pertaining to altered and panpsychological forms of consciousness. He is a research fellow and associate lecturer at the University of Exeter where he has co-founded the Philosophy of Psychedelics Exeter Research Group, the ambit of which includes taught modules, conferences, workshops, and publications. Peter publishes widely and gives talks internationally. He is the author of Noumenautics, the TEDx Talker on ‘Psychedelics and Consciousness’, and he is inspiration to the inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak.

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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