The psychedelic humanities: a posthuman proposal for the community of psychedelic professionals

How is scientific research into the clinical application of psychedelics impacting contemporary culture? Following clinical research into psychedelics, there has also been a cultural revival of the interest of these substances. Besides the scientific and clinical interest in these substances, there is now a fast-emerging field of psychedelic humanities that aims to impact of the increased understanding of the functioning of psychedelic substances on culture and society. Within a wide range of humanities disciplines such as philosophy, cultural anthropology, history, religious studies, and media studies we see a renewed interest in the culture of psychedelics and a cultural analysis of this renewed “psychedelic enthusiasm”.

This paper presents the emerging field of psychedelic humanities within the context of the rise of the new humanities (especially digital humanities, medical humanities, and environmental humanities, amongst others) to explain how science and cultural analysis are increasingly converging.

With the cultural analysis of this field, this presentation offers a balance between emphasizing the potentially transformative moment for contemporary societies that the psychedelic renaissance offers, while also acknowledging the limits of the scientific research results as well as the risks this transformation entails for our societies. I propose to transform the psychedelic research community by approaching it from the perspective of posthuman assemblages. Posthumanism offers a transversal way to approach the various interests of psychedelic stakeholders, without prioritizing one form of knowledge over the other. This will hopefully strengthen our potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, and learn from each other.