A causal pluralist theory of the interaction of substance, set and setting in psychedelic experience
Philosophical Psychology November 30, 2025 Julian Kiverstein, Hüseyin Beyköylü, Michiel van Elk 3 citations
Psychedelic experiences are shaped by the interaction of the drug, the user's psychological state (set), and the environment (setting), not just by pharmacology. A causal pluralist theory holds that multiple valid explanations—pharmacological, neural, psychological, social, political, and historical—can account for how set and setting influence the experience. Concepts from enactive cognitive science help clarify how higher-level causes like psychological states and cultural practices work, but enactive science has not yet produced testable models. Predictive processing theory may fill that gap. A pluralist synthesis of enactive cognitive science and predictive processing could provide the best conceptual tools for understanding the psychedelic experience scientifically.