Chris Letheby, PhD - "Psychedelic Neuroexistentialism"

Abstract: Evidence suggests that psychedelic experiences can durably reduce fear of death, and some researchers think this effect is central to their therapeutic potential. But we do not yet know how these experiences reduce fear of death. The issues here are both mechanistic and epistemological. Is psychedelic therapy “simply foisting a comforting delusion on the sick and dying” (Pollan 2015), or does it work by inducing genuine insights? Various theories of psychedelic therapy have been proposed, but most have had little to say about reductions in fear of death. I will use these reductions as a test case for prominent theories of psychedelic therapy, in an effort to understand not only psychedelics’ therapeutic potential, but also their possible role(s) in the “neuroexistentialist” project described by Flanagan and Caruso: the use of research in the mind and brain sciences to find viable solutions to a new wave of existential anxiety allegedly caused by advances in those very sciences. Speaker Bio: Dr. Chris Letheby is a Lecturer in Philosophy at The University of Western Australia. His areas of specialization are philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science. Letheby’s research to date has focused mainly on the use of classic psychedelic drugs in neuroscience and psychiatry. In several articles and a book, he has argued that a traditional conception of psychedelics as agents of insight and spirituality can be reconciled with naturalism, the philosophical position that the natural world is all there is. His monograph Philosophy of Psychedelics was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press.