Transformative Psychedelic Experiences

L. A. Paul (Yale University)

Psychedelic experience can transform your mind, expanding how you understand reality and connect to the world. In the process, it changes who you are and what you care about. I will explain the philosophical structure of transformative experience and explore how, through the process of epistemic transformation, psychedelics teach us things we cannot not know in any other way. I’ll then discuss how the transformation of mind brings a transformation of self: as such, psychedelic experience can teach us new ways to understand ourselves and how we relate to the world. I’ll close by discussing the question of whether, given the mind-expanding nature of of psychedelics, we can consent to treatment involving them in a meaningful way.