Psychedelic Experiences and the Enactive Approach

Summary

The chapter discusses two perspectives on psychedelic experiences: realism, which sees them as revealing an objective world, and idealism, which views them as mere projections of the mind. It proposes an enactive approach that transcends these views by emphasizing observer relativity and context dependency in such experiences. The authors suggest that this perspective has significant implications for understanding psychedelic experiences and their relationship to direct experience and belief.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Two views on psychedelic experiences include realism and idealism. While a realist view suggests that psychedelic experiences reveal a pre-given world to us, an idealist view suggests they are mere projections of a pre-given mind. This chapter highlights and contrasts their common tendency towards grasping and representations. It presents a promising alternative that aims at going beyond grasping and representations: an enactive approach to psychedelic experiences. It argues that the enactive approach contributes a perspective on psychedelic experiences that leaves behind the assumption of a foundation in either the world or the self and emphasizes both the observer relativity and context dependency involved in psychedelic experiences. It concludes with implications of the enactive perspective for the common core approach to PRSM experiences, the relevance of hallucinogens for the enactive approach, and the authors’ view on the relation between direct experience and belief.