Philosophy and Psychedelics
a seminar
Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes, PhD
Description
In this course you will learn about the intersection of philosophy, or more specifically Metaphysics, and the psychedelic experience. We shall see how certain chemically-induced states can be fathomed through a plurality of metaphysical frameworks, with an emphasis on monism, pantheism (especially Spinozism), panpsychism, animism, as well as the more temporal-based dualism of Henri Bergson, a metaphysics that influenced both William James and Aldous Huxley in this respect. We shall see how metaphysics relates to mysticism, and with it address the problems that this relation brings, especially that of the Perennialist–Contextualist debate that questions the cultural, biological, psychological, and transcendental conditions of consciousness.
Disclaimer: This course is strictly academic in nature. GCAS (GCAS College Dublin, Limited) does not encourage nor endorse taking any illegal substances.
Nov. 3, 10, 17, 24 – 2024
Sundays
1pm New York Time
Schedule
1. Metaphysics and Psychedelics (Nov 3)
Watch this recording before the session starts: Consciousness and psychedelics | Peter Sjostedt-H | TEDxTruro
2. Monism, Pantheism and Psychedelics (Nov 10)
Watch this recording before the session starts:
Metaphysics and Psychedelic Research | Peter Sjostedt | ALPS Conference 2022
3. Bergsonism, Huxley and Psychedelics (Nov 17)
Watch this recording before the session starts:
Peter Sjöstedt Hughes- "Interpreting Psychedelic Consciousness through Schopenhauer and Bergson"
4. Mysticism and the Perennialism vs Contextualism Debate (Nov 24)
Assigned Texts and the syllabus will be disclosed once you have enrolled.
Format: On GCAS Zoom Channel
This is a non-credit course for those not enrolled in a GCAS degree programme.
Convenor:
Dr Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes is a Philosopher of Mind and Metaphysics who specializes in the thought of Whitehead, Spinoza, Nietzsche, and Bergson – and in fields pertaining to panpsychism, pantheism, mental causation, and altered states of consciousness. He is a lecturer at The University of Exeter and co-director of Europe’s largest psychedelics conference, Breaking Convention. He is on the board of breathwork charity Dreamshadow, the advisory board of the Tyringham Institute, and is a member of the drugs advisory committee group, Drug Science, as well as being on the team of the established UK independent publisher, Psychedelic Press. Peter is the author of Noumenautics (2015), Modes of Sentience (2021), co-editor and contributor of Bloomsbury’s Philosophy and Psychedelics (2022). As well as the TEDx Talker on ‘psychedelics and consciousness’, Peter is an inspiration to the recreation of inhuman philosopher Marvel Superhero, Karnak.