Philosophy and Psychedelics

Frameworks for Exceptional Experience

Christine Hauskeller,Peter Sjöstedt-Hughes

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781350231634
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Mind & Body in Philosophy

What do psychedelics reveal about consciousness? What impact have psychedelics had on philosophy? In this rapidly growing area of study, this is the first volume to explore the philosophy of psychedelic experience, from a range of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. In doing so, Philosophy and Psychedelics reveals just why the place of psychedelics in our societies should not be left to medical sciences alone, as psychedelic experience opens up new perspectives on fundamental philosophical questions relating to human experience, ethics, and the metaphysics of mind. Mapping a range of philosophical responses to the surge in studies into psychedelic drugs in the cognitive sciences, this go-to volume examines topics including psychedelics and the role of governance; psychedelics and mysticism; what psychedelics can tell us about dyadic thankfulness; and psychedelics as ways to gain new knowledge. Written by leading international scholars, the essays cover Western and non-Western traditions, from analytic philosophy to Zen Buddhism, and discuss a variety of hallucinogens, such as LSD, MDMA, and Ayahuasca, in order to build a much-needed bridge between the rapidly growing scientific research and the philosophy behind psychedelic experience.

Chapter 1

TRANSPERSONAL GRATITUDE AND PSYCHEDELIC ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Taline Artinian

Philosophical accounts of gratitude have traditionally focused on a triadic concept of thankfulness, and its moral and phenomenological aspects. This definition of gratitude in terms of a giver–gift–beneficiary triangle grounds it in social and personal contexts of duties and obligations, delineating the requirements of benevolence and appropriate returns. However, it does not account for dyadic instances of gratitude, i.e., thankfulness for a benefit without a source, and its associated phenomenology. While current philosophical discussions of dyadic gratitude¹ attempt to provide a conceptual framework for gratitude in the absence of an intentional benefactor, the view that only directed thankfulness can be considered genuine gratitude² is still the prevalent one. The central issue is that gratitude is conceptualised as a response to benevolent attitudes. Therefore, in the absence of a benefactor, we are merely in the presence of appreciation for a ‘beneficial state of affairs’.³ To address this issue, I have proposed elsewhere⁴ the concept of ‘transpersonal gratitude’ to refer to a kind of gratitude that arises in dyadic contexts where a personally significant benefit takes central place instead of the benevolent agent, resulting in feelings of connectedness to others and the world.

This chapter explores phenomenological features of transpersonal gratitude through a comparison to altered states of consciousness in psychedelic experiences. It aims to further our insight into the workings of a gratitude that transcends the personal.

I start with an overview and discussion of dyadic contexts of gratitude as well as the concept of transpersonal gratitude. For the purposes of this chapter, I focus on the salience of the benefit and the feelings of connectedness, to compare them to experiences of unity in psychedelic states of consciousness. Oceanic boundlessness and ego-dissolution are of particular interest for a comparative analysis of feelings of connectedness. Finally, I look into the claim of the ‘reducing valve’ function of the brain⁵ and suggest, based on a discussion of ego-dissolution within a psychoanalytic framework, that transpersonal gratitude has a similar impact on ego integrity. I conclude with a few remarks on the notion of the ineffable associated with psychedelic experiences.

1 Transpersonal Gratitude

1.1 Dyadic Contexts

Historically, until the eighteenth century, philosophical literature on gratitude was concerned with triadic thankfulness: gratitude for a benefit towards a benefactor. Gratitude was understood to be an obligation, a duty as well as a virtue, both in social and spiritual/religious terms.⁶ With the advent of positive psychology, preceded by humanistic psychology and before that moral sentimentalism,⁷ thankful emotions and affects became objects of philosophical examination as possible variables in moral choices and behaviour. Contemporary philosophy examines what it means to feel grateful and the place that emotions of thankfulness have in considerations of duty and obligation in return for generous actions, considerations of appropriate grateful behaviour and moral failures of ingratitude.

Still, this philosophical concept of gratitude essentially refers to a triadic relation defined by the following main criteria:

•The intention of the benefactor: the benefit must be given willingly, without any expectations of return and with a clear benevolent intention towards a particular beneficiary. Additionally, there must be some cost to the benefactor, confirming the intentional effort to help.⁸,⁹ This criterion focuses on the intentional benefactor as the object of gratitude and excludes unwitting or begrudging agents who are not owed any thanks.¹⁰

•The gift must be intended for the beneficiary and bring a significant good into their experience. It cannot be an earned benefit, i.e. it has to be something that one receives ‘through no merit’ of one’s own.¹¹ This distinguishes gratitude from relationships of reciprocal exchange.

•The willing acceptance of the gift by the beneficiary and their recognition of the kind intention of the benefactor, eliciting a wish to make a return (a return made appropriate by being commensurate with the giver’s intention. Too much is overzealous and too little is ungrateful).

In considering such triadic relationships, philosophers can argue for certain duties and obligations of gratitude. If a drowning person is saved by a passer-by who takes the risk of jumping in the water despite it being shark infested, then the person who is saved will be said to owe gratitude towards his saviour. The absence of recognition (not even saying thank you, for example), would register as a clear case of ungratefulness and of moral failure on the part of the person whose life was saved. Gratitude thus has an important place in the normative regulation of interpersonal relationships, fostering generosity, trust, and humility.¹²

This focus on the social and moral role of gratitude as a regulating factor of our relationships with others (whether other humans or supernatural beings), accommodates a certain view of our relationship with the world, namely a triadic view where benefits are perceived to come from other human beings or God. If we look at the history of the concept of gratitude,¹³ we will find that our current understanding results from the combination of, on the one hand, the moral and social importance of generosity in ancient societies¹⁴ and, on the other, Christian values of praise and worship.¹⁵ Philosophical accounts of gratitude reflect this focus on the intentional ‘other’ as a source of benefits. However, this perspective is not necessarily appropriate anymore in a reality where religious beliefs have loosened their grip on our view of the world. Whereas at one time we lived in a human being-life-God triangle, in many cases we now live in a dyadic world, defined by the relationship between human and the world. So, while personal gratitude is still a good concept to refer to exchanges within the context of benevolence among humans, imposing a triadic view of gratitude to our relationship to the world is reductionist at best, as it leaves out genuine cases of dyadic gratitude mistakenly taken to be expressions of gladness or appreciation.

I have proposed to call such dyadic experiences ‘transpersonal gratitude’¹⁶, to differentiate it from the propositional form of being thankful that something is the case.¹⁷ Transpersonal gratitude is expressed in the form of ‘X is thankful for R’, R representing a personally significant and unexpected benefit.

The next section discusses the specific features of transpersonal gratitude.¹⁸

1.2 A Phenomenological Profile

Similar to cases of personal thankfulness, transpersonal gratitude requires a benefit that is gratuitous. In this context, it refers to a benefit coming from outside of the self. This benefit does not have to be a material one: any experience or object that adds some good to one’s life experiences is a benefit that can trigger gratitude.

As emotions evaluate an object of experience in terms of the subject’s concerns,¹⁹ gratitude evaluates the benefit as being good for the subject and the phenomenological component of the emotion is (usually) pleasant. When there is an intentional benefactor, the evaluation of the source of the benefit, situated outside of the self, focuses on the benefactor. Further, it gi...