module

Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL3117: Philosophy and Psychedelics

This module descriptor refers to the 2023/4 academic year.

Overview

The so-called psychedelic renaissance is in full swing, a renaissance that itself raises fundamental philosophical questions relating to ethics and politics such as policies of prohibition and medicalization, patent laws and financial investment, personal safety and cognitive liberty. In addition to this, the experiences occasioned by psychedelic substances provoke deep questions of philosophy regarding the nature of the self in relation to the world, the essence of time, the problems of consciousness and human nature, to understandings of mysticism and religion. This module will be the first to address such fundamental issues emanating from the psychedelic advance, looking at how philosophers are again attempting to make sense of it.

Apart from a good general understanding of the disciplinary order of philosophy, this module has no pre-requisites. In fact, we use the topic of psychedelics as a lens through which various philosophic fields can be introduced and their correspondence or different perspectives more thoroughly understood.