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Palgrave Macmillan

Phenomenology of Psychedelic Experiences

  • Book
  • Jul 2025

Overview

Authors:
  1. Danny Forde

    1. Philosophy, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

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  • Explores the psychedelic experience from a phenomenological perspective
  • Argues that the psychedelic experience can reveal aspects of reality which would not otherwise be disclosed
  • Discusses how psychedelic experience can open the subject to the essential nature of reality

Part of the book series: New Directions in Philosophy and Cognitive Science (NDPCS)

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About this book

This book provides a  phenomenological examination of the psychedelic experience. Danny Forde begins by introducing and outlining both the subject matter (psychedelics) and the approach (phenomenology). In the phenomenological analysis, Forde defends a bundle of four interconnected claims. The first thesis is that a minimal sense of self is maintained even during the most turbulent experiences of ego-dissolution. This leads into the second thesis, which argues that rather than being purely hallucinatory, the psychedelic experience can reveal aspects of reality which would not otherwise be disclosed, i.e., as the ego dissolves one gains a view of the world which Forde calls ego-free seeing. The third thesis is that the psychedelic experience can open the subject to the essential nature of reality. Here, Forde claims  that the mythopoetic archetypical phenomena encountered during the peak of the psychedelic experience are best comprehended in terms of essences. Finally, Forde argues that the psychedelic experience is a bona fide transformative experience and offers a distinct way of apprehending the Ground of Being.

Keywords

  • meaning of life
  • phenomenology
  • ego-dissolution
  • self
  • psychedelics
  • essences
  • realist phenomenology

Authors and Affiliations

  • Philosophy, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Danny Forde

About the author

Danny Forde is an assistant lecturer in both the philosophy department and the department of religions and global diversity in University College Cork, Ireland.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Phenomenology of Psychedelic Experiences

  • Authors: Danny Forde

  • Series Title: New Directions in Philosophy and Cognitive Science

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-95202-9Due: 01 August 2025

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-95205-0Due: 01 August 2026

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-95203-6Due: 01 August 2025

  • Series ISSN: 2946-2959

  • Series E-ISSN: 2946-2967

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: II, 164

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