Philosophical Psychology
November 2, 2020
J. Aagaard
68 citations
A contemporary approach to cognitive psychology known as 4E cognition holds that the mind is not confined to the head but is dynamically intertwined with social and technological entities. This article raises a concern not about whether the mind is extended, but about how this condition is portrayed. It argues that 4E scholars often paint an overly idealized picture of human–technology relations, presuming all entities cooperate and collaborate. The article describes extended and distributed cognition, discusses leaving behind the concepts of cognition and representation, and identifies a 'dogma of harmony' in the literature. It argues for analytical room for conflictual relations, providing bad habits and deskilling as examples.
Philosophical Psychology
April 27, 2021
D. Yaden, Derek Anderson
31 citations
A survey of 314 professional philosophers found that personality traits and demographics do not predict philosophical views, but some psychological traits do. Higher numeracy predicted physicalism, naturalism, and consequentialism. Lower well-being and higher mental illness predicted hard determinism. Use of psychedelics and marijuana predicted non-realist and subjectivist views on morality and aesthetics. Transformative or self-transcendent experiences predicted theism and idealism. 68% of the philosophers surveyed indicated that such empirical findings have philosophical value.
Philosophical Psychology
March 29, 2022
Nin Kirkham, Chris Letheby
15 citations
Classic psychedelic drugs, when administered safely in controlled settings, can induce vivid experiences of unity and connectedness that durably increase feelings of nature-relatedness and pro-environmental behaviors. This makes them a promising form of moral bio-enhancement for cultivating environmental virtues, particularly the master virtue of living in place, which encompasses respect for nature, proper humility, and aesthetic wonder and awe. The proposal offers a practical approach to changing individual behavior to address environmental challenges, which are often framed as collective action problems but also require individual change.
Philosophical Psychology
December 5, 2020
Y. Ataria, O. Horovitz
13 citations
Severe and ongoing trauma can damage the minimal self—the core sense of being a unified subject of experience. Over time, this impairment may contribute to complex post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. The paper builds conceptual connections between phenomenological philosophy and neuroscience to explain this process.
Philosophical Psychology
August 14, 2024
Jussi Jylkkä
8 citations
Psychedelics can lead people to adopt mystical-type beliefs, such as the idea that reality is fundamentally loving consciousness, which may improve well-being. Critics argue such beliefs are delusional because they contradict naturalism. This paper argues that naturalism is just one metaphysical position among several internally consistent and scientifically compatible options, making it impossible to definitively choose one. This calls for metaphysical agnosticism, meaning psychedelic-facilitated metaphysical beliefs cannot be dismissed as delusional solely for contradicting naturalism. However, metaphysical agnosticism does not apply to other mystical-type beliefs like paranormal claims, which can be problematic. The author applies this framework to empirical research on psychedelic belief changes, noting that mystical-type beliefs may be ineffable and non-conceptual, so their conceptualizations should not be taken too seriously. Implications for psychedelic-assisted therapy are discussed.
Philosophical Psychology
October 9, 2024
Floris Benjamin Tijhuis, Sabrina Coninx, Léon C. de Bruin
7 citations
This article uses Matthew Ratcliffe's theory of existential feelings to explain how psychedelic therapy can relieve mental suffering. It argues that mental disorders share common existential feelings, and that psychedelic experiences can shift these feelings, particularly through oceanic feelings. The authors describe how this shift allows for existential reorientation, which is key to therapeutic change. They characterize the phenomenological process during psychedelic therapy and outline conditions needed for a successful therapeutic experience, such as set and setting. The account integrates phenomenology with clinical observations to show why certain psychedelic experiences lead to lasting relief.
Philosophical Psychology
June 27, 2024
M. Pedersen, Asbjørn Steglich‐petersen
5 citations
Psychedelic experiences are often claimed to produce therapeutic benefits through epistemic changes like spiritual insight or disrupting problematic beliefs. While recent philosophy suggests these epistemic risks are benign and outweighed by benefits, this paper argues that social factors play a crucial but overlooked role. The openness, clarity, and certainty that facilitate epistemic benefits also make users more vulnerable to adverse epistemic influence from their social environment. Examining these social influences is important for informed consent and safe drug use.
Philosophical Psychology
June 27, 2024
Christopher Kochevar
5 citations
Informed consent for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is possible and need not be especially difficult if reasonable approaches are used. A central but overlooked risk in PAP is the patient's heightened susceptibility to environmental influence during the session, termed epistemic vulnerability. This vulnerability should be disclosed as part of informed consent in all cases. The paper argues that a nondirective therapeutic approach—where patients manage their own experience—is more ethically supportable than other approaches, partly because it prioritizes autonomous transformation. Analogous concerns from regular psychotherapy are addressed through a process view of consent, which can help navigate the complexities of ongoing consent in PAP.
Philosophical Psychology
May 8, 2025
Peter Sjöstedt-hughes
4 citations
Pantheism, the idea that all is God, frequently underlies psychedelic experiences reported in both research literature and clinical trials, yet its meaning remains poorly understood in therapeutic settings. This essay addresses that gap by examining Pantheism's etymology and historical development, exploring the meanings of 'pan' (all) and 'theos' (God). It then presents a typology distinguishing two genuine forms—Monist and Idealist Pantheism—alongside related doctrines: Physicalist Pantheism, Partial Pantheism, Panentheism, and Panpsychism.
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.
Philosophical Psychology
September 8, 2025
Mina Caraccio, Katherine Cheung, Sebastian Porsdam Mann et al.
3 citations
As interest in psychedelics like psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA revives and their legal status changes in many places, ethical guidelines are urgently needed for both medical and non-medical use. This paper argues that focusing only on medical applications neglects potentially valuable uses in other contexts and raises ethical issues including hype, exceptionalism, informed consent, therapeutic touch, data collection, and balancing access with safety. The authors call for renewed attention to the treatment-versus-enhancement distinction from bioethics and stress that guidelines should be flexible and context-sensitive. They recommend incorporating diverse stakeholder perspectives and cross-sector collaboration in future research and policy for psychedelic bioethics.
Philosophical Psychology
May 24, 2025
André Van der Braak
3 citations
A participatory approach to mystical experiences, drawing on Bruno Latour's concepts of actor-networks and modes of existence, interprets them as events involving multiple agents rather than as private inner states of an isolated subject. This approach avoids assuming either the presence or absence of a real referent for such experiences while still engaging the ontological question. The article reviews perennialist and constructivist approaches to mystical experiences, outlines their philosophical problems, and explains Latour's modes of existence—particularly beings of transformation and beings of religion—to show how a participatory framework can shift academic study.
Philosophical Psychology
November 25, 2024
Riccardo Miceli Mcmillan, Jack Reynolds, Anthony Vincent Fernandez
3 citations
Psychedelic therapy's effectiveness partly depends on the nature of the experiences it produces, especially altered time perception, such as feelings of timelessness. Interpreting these reports is challenging because true timelessness may be impossible to experience, and descriptions vary in clinical relevance. Using a phenomenological approach to temporality, this article clarifies ambiguities in current assessment tools. It proposes that psychedelic temporality might counteract depressive temporality, offering a preliminary mechanism for therapy. A dedicated phenomenological research program could map psychedelic time experiences, resolving philosophical and clinical uncertainties and guiding future studies.
Philosophical Psychology
October 11, 2021
Jae Ryeong Sul
3 citations
Delusional mood, a psychological state often preceding schizophrenia, involves a peculiar affective salience in world experience that may contribute to later delusion formation. This paper uses Edmund Husserl's account of affection and affective syntheses to clarify the nature of this experiential abnormality and explain how it leads to delusional mood. The phenomenological account is then related to the neurobiological aberrant salience hypothesis, suggesting a path toward mutual enlightenment between the two approaches.
Philosophical Psychology
July 7, 2025
Florián Cova, Federico Seragnoli
2 citations
Psychedelic experiences share key features with the emotions of awe and being moved. Awe involves a reduced sense of self, a need to adjust one's understanding, and altered time perception; being moved involves feelings of insight, meaningfulness, and connectedness. These emotions may play an important role in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. A two-process model is proposed to explain how emotions contribute to therapeutic outcomes, and several testable hypotheses derived from the model are presented.
Philosophical Psychology
March 26, 2024
Pablo López-silva
2 citations
Delusions of thought insertion (TI) involve the distressing feeling that external agents have placed thoughts into one's mind, accompanied by loss of mental privacy and a sense of physical intrusion. The dominant cognitive-science explanation, the Standard Approach, attributes TI to a lack of sense of agency for one's own thoughts, leading to their externalization. This paper argues that the Standard Approach overlooks two more fundamental aspects: the multimodal nature of thinking in psychosis and the deeply social dimension of delusional experience in schizophrenia. A broader descriptive phenomenological characterization of TI is offered, and connections are drawn to current research in social perception and clinical practice.
Philosophical Psychology
February 14, 2024
Jonny Lee, B. Millar
2 citations
The mechanistic model of scientific explanation describes explanations as uncovering multi-level, organized components that make up a target phenomenon. Sensorimotor enactivism offers an account of perceptual experience as a skillful, interactive relationship between perceiver and world, not as an internal representation. While these two approaches could complement each other—mechanism explaining subpersonal components of the skillful interaction that enactivism identifies—two challenges arise. The representation challenge arises because implementing sensorimotor interaction seems to require cognitive representations, conflicting with enactivism's nonrepresentational stance. The reconstitution challenge occurs when mechanistic explanation redefines perceptual experience so its components become entirely organism-bound. The paper explores these tensions and possible solutions, clarifying the compatibility and learning opportunities between the two frameworks.
Philosophical Psychology
January 1, 2026
Juensung J. Kim, Kadi Tulver, Jaan Aru et al.
1 citation
Mystical-type experiences and insight problem solving both belong to a family of "realization experiences" where information suddenly becomes experienced as real or true. Both can be modeled using behavioral entropy and graph theory. When novel information conflicts with prior representations, the mind destabilizes its representational network, entering a state of altered salience and enhanced associations. After restructuring sensitive to environmental cues, the agent forms new beliefs or revises its entire framework. The phenomenology depends on the size and content of the updated network and environmental affordances. This shared vocabulary aims to facilitate discussion across these phenomena.
Philosophical Psychology
November 6, 2025
Florián Cova, Angela Gaia F. Abatista
1 citation
Mystical experiences—marked by unity and self-loss—may not be rare and special; they may lie on a continuum with common, everyday experiences. In an exploratory study, participants described past experiences of unity and self-loss. Everyday unity experiences, often triggered by feeling part of a social group, shared many features of mystical experiences, including feelings of unity, insight, and the presence of meaning. Both types of experiences also involved social emotions. These preliminary results suggest that investigating the continuity between mystical and everyday experiences could help reveal the psychological mechanisms and evolutionary origins of mystical experiences.
Philosophical Psychology
September 26, 2024
Aleš Oblak, Liam Korošec Hudnik, Anja Levačić et al.
1 citation
People who microdosed psilocybin on their own reported loosening of mental structures, such as less intense thoughts and a more tangential stream of consciousness, along with increased sensitivity to external stimuli that could make mundane activities more interesting or lead to sensory overload. Flexible cognition increased while stable cognition decreased, and some ego-dystonic contents emerged. The experience was appraised more positively in highly structured environments. Momentary assessments and retrospective interviews gave different accounts, highlighting the need for systematic mixed methods studies to characterize the lived experience of low-dose psilocybin.
Philosophical Psychology
August 20, 2024
Emiliano Loria, Elisabetta Lalumera, Ambra D’imperio
1 citation
Psychedelic substances show promise for psychiatric treatment, but their therapeutic effect is not purely pharmacological; they enhance psychotherapy. A systematic review and case study demonstrate that integrating psychedelics with psychotherapeutic interventions is essential. The paper examines the historical context, mechanism of action, and evidence for treating depression, emphasizing methodological rigor and ethical standards. It advocates for psychedelic treatments as legitimate alternatives alongside traditional therapies, potentially shifting psychiatric care paradigms.
Philosophical Psychology
July 25, 2024
Umair Khan
1 citation
A philosophical argument proposes that psychedelics alleviate depression by generating a surge of existential feelings that revise a depressed person's diminished sense of possibility and restore their ability to be affected by the world. Drawing on Ratcliffe's account of depression, the author contends that the subjective effects of psychedelics change the sense of reality, which constitutes the personal-level mechanism behind psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. This account supports the view that psychedelics work in an experience-dependent manner, meaning the therapeutic benefits arise from the content of the psychedelic experience itself.
Philosophical Psychology
September 25, 2023
Héloïse Athéa
1 citation
The growing popularity of psychedelics dates back to the late 1990s and is not a recent trend. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and neuroscientists are increasingly focusing on these hallucinogenic substances.
Philosophical Psychology
April 27, 2026
Michiel van Elk
Mystical experiences are characterized by ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity, as outlined by William James. The abstract discusses the long-standing scholarly interest in these experiences within religious studies, noting that they have been a focus of research since James's foundational work. The text describes the key features of such experiences but does not present new empirical findings or a specific argument beyond acknowledging the historical and ongoing academic attention to the topic.
Philosophical Psychology
March 17, 2026
Kael Mccormack
Philosophical accounts of object perception typically split between explaining objects as unified wholes through general representations and explaining them as particular individuals through unrepeatable representations. Susanna Schellenberg's capacitism—which treats perception as the exercise of capacities to discriminate concrete perceptual particulars—aims to reconcile these views but struggles to account for perceptual structure without invoking non-perceptual capacities. The author proposes a solution: a distinct capacity to discriminate unity, whose successful exercise yields a representation of an object bound with its properties, enabling direct awareness of an object's unity. This preserves both the particularity and the structured wholeness of perceived objects.