Of pharmakon: Hallucination in Amerindian perspectivism and speculative materialism
Journal of Psychedelic Studies June 16, 2022 Ignas Šatkauskas
The paper examines how the concepts of hallucination and psychedelic experience carry Western presuppositions about body and soul, nature and culture. It contrasts Viveiros de Castro's Amerindian perspectivism, which suspends assumptions of unreality, with Meillassoux's speculative materialism, where hallucination appears as an imitation of the real. This debate relates to the naturalization of spirituality. The critique extends to terms like psychedelic and entheogen. By revisiting the Matsigenka concept of kepigari and Derrida's pharmakon, the authors suggest that pharmakon offers a useful comparative tool for indigenous thought and psychedelic philosophy. They interpret psychedelics as an existential medicine with ambiguous, indeterminate possibilities.