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This volume stands as an adventure. Among other things, it copiously details numerous substances that the US-raised scholar in history and philosophy of science has taken. Among them are psilocybin, LSD, marijuana; anxiety medications to manage stress; venlafaxine, fluoxetine, Lexapro and tricyclics; caffeine (“I have drunk espresso every single day for over three decades”); and, in his experience, the always disappointing alcohol.

The Deeply Trippy Aspect

The truly astonishing aspect, however, lies not primarily in the author’s descriptions of his substance journeys, but the fact that they come from a tough-minded logical thinker, who knows empirical Foundations of Empirical Knowledge just as much as mystical mescaline-inspired perceptual explorations. Additionally, they’re presented intending to dissolving the egos of his fellow thinkers and general readers arguing that psychedelics transcend the ego and make us part of cosmic consciousness, thereby rendering us free as defined by Baruch Spinoza’s theorist Spinoza explained it (expressed by the author with “a pleasant acquiescence to the manner the physical form is moving within the inevitable cosmic structure”).

Dissolving the Cartesian Paradigm

The melting comparison is appropriate, as the primal scene of early modern European thought came when the French philosopher scholar René Descartes heated a wax sample. The substance could alter its shape, scent, length, breadth, and yet, he claimed, we continue to believe to know its identity as the very entity. The observer might misperceive concerning each their perceptions related to the wax however not, he insisted, the fact that they are thinking: here lies the core of his well-known “I think therefore I am” – through which the rationalist made us the rational, empiricism-loving beings we became to this day.

The philosopher, provocatively, challenges the tradition on Descartes’ philosophical exercise: suppose that, in place of heating the substance, Descartes had “altered his perception” with acid, or one of those hallucinogens starting to arrive in Europe across the Atlantic alongside new crops and nicotine, such as sacred cactus or Amazonian brews? Imagine if instead of foregrounded logic and instead celebrated the imaginative powers which he argues, are activated through substances? European thought could have become seeing the world in a wholly new way, and individuals not as rational agents but as “infinite reservoirs of insight and wisdom”.

Beyond Mainstream Philosophy

There’s more in Smith-Ruiu’s psychedelic experience, it could be argued, than considered in rigid academics’ frameworks. His approach appears related to current voguish, mind-blowing schools of thought including the new realism of theories, and object-oriented philosophies and ecological thought. The German philosopher stated the transcendent was by definition behind an impenetrable veil, inferable perhaps but never knowable. We could never in this world, experience transcendence. For Smith-Ruiu, consciousness-expanders might help pierce that illusion. For that thought by itself I’m amazed – and inspired – that such ideas are accepted.

Lucidity Insights

It’s worth mentioning now that the book is far from like those gonzo books typed as the person is out of their gourd. The philosopher is not the chaotic writer. It is called About Psychedelics but it was not written on drugs (except, presumably, from some of the prescription meds he details above and the odd caffeine jolt). “I am as I write, sober, focused, and entirely dedicated to the work.”

An Astonishing Revelation

The book finishes with an unexpected turn of events (key revelation). Not long ago, Smith-Ruiu attended church service after many years in 40 years at the church adjacent to his Paris apartment. His claim here states that substance-induced states parallels religious ceremonies: normal consciousness is seen as a limited view, and in worship individuals can sense, similar to his with psilocybin, a glimpse of timelessness. An additional connection lies in how one submits egoic control in church similar to an entheogenic experience. The author states: “Psychedelics, akin to spirituality, like poetry constitute a release of control to maintain isolation.” The philosopher is self-aware enough to note how strange this sounds: that psychedelics have become his pathway to spirituality.

Common Transcendence

It isn’t necessary to use psychedelics from some geezer in a shop (as described) to expand consciousness. The author references the opening of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, when little Marcel creatively fantasizes that he has become {some of the things