What is it about?
This article examines the emergence of the psychedelic humanities as an interdisciplinary field spanning anthropology, history, philosophy, and science and technology studies. Langlitz analyzes how humanities scholars engage with psychedelic substances, research practices, and experiences, focusing on tensions between critical distance, first-person experience, and collaboration with the life sciences.
Why is it important?
As psychedelic research re-enters mainstream scientific and clinical discourse, the humanities play an increasingly visible role in shaping how these substances are understood culturally, historically, and ethically. By identifying internal paradoxes within the psychedelic humanities, the article clarifies the methodological and epistemic challenges faced by scholars who seek both to critically analyze psychedelic science and to take psychedelic experience seriously as an object of inquiry.
What does the author argue?
Langlitz argues that the psychedelic humanities are characterized by a set of productive tensions: between critical detachment and experiential engagement, between skepticism toward scientific authority and collaboration with neuroscientists and clinicians, and between demystification and renewed fascination with altered states. Rather than resolving these paradoxes, the author suggests they are constitutive of the field itself, shaping how humanities scholars negotiate their role in the contemporary psychedelic renaissance.
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You can find the paper here.