What Can Critical Humanities Contribute to Psychedelic Research? A Naturalist Approach to Interdisciplinary Integration
ATHENS JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY August 29, 2025 Oliver Thorndike 1 citation
Interdisciplinary collaboration between science and the humanities can advance psychedelic-assisted therapy. Adopting a non-reductionist naturalist framework that views psychological phenomena as emergent from neuronal biochemical processes, the paper argues that critical humanities—integrating aesthetic, psychological, philosophical, spiritual, and recreational perspectives with scientific inquiry—can address metaphysical biases in language that hinder research and public understanding. It clarifies antiquated dualisms, corrects misconceptions about psychedelic experiences, and cautions against the notion that such experiences “cause” insights. Critical humanities also enhance therapeutic settings, such as music's role in therapy, and assist in designing comparative studies, fostering a more coherent understanding of psychedelic experiences.