module
Postgraduate Module Descriptor
PHLM014: Philosophy and Psychedelics
This module descriptor refers to the 2022/3 academic year.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | 272 | 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 hours per week comprising of lectures and seminars |
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 6 | 2 x 3-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 | 126 | 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