Serotonergic psychedelics have prompted philosophical questions that academic philosophers are now beginning to explore. This paper reviews four emerging research areas: selfless consciousness, psychedelic epistemology, psychedelic ethics, and spiritual or religious naturalism. It highlights questions about how psychedelics affect self-consciousness and phenomenal consciousness, the epistemic nature of psychedelic experiences, ethical issues surrounding appropriate use, and whether spiritual or religious aspects of psychedelic use can fit within a naturalistic worldview.
The authors argue for retaining mystical concepts in psychedelic science, countering critics who would abandon them. They contend that critiques of the pro-mystical-concepts position can be resolved through conceptual clarification and recognizing basic distinctions. The paper aims to end the "mysticism wars" between researchers who employ mystical concepts to describe psychedelic experiences and those who do not, siding with the former on grounds that there are no good reasons to abandon such concepts and plenty of good reasons to keep them.