Oxford University Press eBooks
July 22, 2026
Julian Kiverstein
Abstract Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, DMT, or mescaline, when employed with knowledge and skill, can sometimes lead to profoundly meaningful and transformative subjective experiences. This chapter discusses how the predictive processing theory can further our understanding of these deeply meaningful spiritual psychedelic experience. It makes a more specific...
Oxford University Press eBooks
June 22, 2026
Ralph W. Hood, Malynda Clark
Abstract This chapter examines the debate surrounding the common core thesis of mystical experience by situating contemporary empirical psychology within the longer intellectual history of psychology, philosophy, and theology. It traces how William James and Walter Stace defend the distinction between experience and interpretation, establishing a foundation for a cross-cultural,...
Oxford University Press eBooks
June 22, 2026
Galen Strawson
Abstract One hears a great deal about “Russellian physicalism”, “Russellian panpsychism”, and “Russellian monism”. They’re proposed as solutions to the so-called mind–body problem. There is, however, a great deal of unclarity about Russell’s views on this matter. This is partly his own fault. It’s well known that he endorses “neutral monism”, but he’s also prepared to call himself a materialist...
Oxford University Press eBooks
May 21, 2026
Donovan Wishon
Abstract This chapter traces the development of Bertrand Russell’s philosophy of mind from his early engagements with panpsychism and idealism through his dualist period and finally to his mature neutral monism. It advances three central claims. First, Russell’s positions on the mind are consistently shaped by his sustained engagement with empirical psychology and the natural sciences. Second,...
Oxford University Press eBooks
January 27, 2026
Katrina Hazzard-Donald
Abstract This chapter reflects on the legacy of the sacred dance arena known as the ring shout, a legacy which stretches to include both jazz scat singing and speaking in tongues. The ring shout was a sacred praise-ritual that was danced, originating in the enslaved African American communities of the blackbelt South. It involved the formation of a counter-clockwise rotating circle of devotees...
Oxford University Press eBooks
May 22, 2025
Serena Scarpelli, Valentina Alfonsi, Luigi De Gennaro
1 citation
Abstract Nightmare disorder is a rapid-eye-movement (REM) parasomnia provoking disturbing oneiric activity and significant distress. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the diagnostic criteria and definition of this sleep disorder. The authors reviewed findings on neural correlates of nightmares, also examining the changes over the life span. They describe the most common comorbid...
Oxford University Press eBooks
February 17, 2025
Shannon L. Mariotti
1 citation
Abstract Contemplative practices are increasingly mainstream in the United States. From meditation, mindfulness, and yoga to writing, walking, and gardening, contemplative practices aim to cultivate embodied awareness, attunement, and attention. What is the political value of the attentional ecologies created by the Mindfulness Revolution? This book explores the democratic possibility contained...
Oxford University Press eBooks
December 1, 2022
Stephen Ross, Anthony P. Bossis
Abstract Following a decades-long hiatus and building on an innovative research model first developed from the 1960s to 1970s utilizing psychedelic therapeutics to alleviate the marked psychic distress in end-of-life cancer patients, major academic centers are resuming contemporary clinical research into the safety and efficacy of psilocybin and other serotonergic psychedelics delivered in...
Oxford University Press eBooks
March 18, 2022
Henrique Soares Carneiro
5 citations
Abstract The Indigenous cultures of South America developed a diverse array of traditional uses for psychoactive plants. This chapter surveys the historical and anthropological literatures on these practices. Pre-Columbian usage, later labeled as idolatry, was transformed by European colonization of the Americas. However, chroniclers such as Sahagun, Hernández, de Acosta, and Monardes, as well...
Oxford University Press eBooks
August 1, 2021
Chris Letheby
Philosophy of Psychedelics is the first scholarly monograph in English devoted to the philosophical analysis of psychedelic drugs. Its central focus is the apparent conflict between the growing use of psychedelics in psychiatry and the philosophical worldview of naturalism, which holds that the natural world is all that exists. The book reviews scientific evidence that psychedelics such as...
Oxford University Press eBooks
November 1, 2020
Albert R. Powers, T. Mcglashan, S. Woods
5 citations
More than 100 years of retrospective studies show that psychosis is usually preceded by a prodrome. Nonspecific symptoms such as anxiety and depression precede more specific negative and attenuated positive symptoms. Prospective diagnostic criteria have been developed based on the retrospective work. The prospective criteria have shown high reliability in the research context, and follow-up...
Oxford University Press eBooks
July 9, 2020
169 citations
This book provides a panoramic view of the state of the art in current philosophical research on consciousness. Featuring some of the most prominent contributors to the field, it explores (1) the wide range of types of consciousness there may be, (2) the many psychological phenomena with which consciousness interacts, and (3) the various views concerning the ultimate relationship between...
Oxford University Press eBooks
February 25, 2020
27 citations
This collection provides a guide to the mystical element of Christianity as a theological phenomenon. It differs not only from psychological and anthropological studies of mysticism, but from other theological studies, such as more practical or pastorally oriented works that examine the patterns of spiritual progress and offer counsel for deeper understanding and spiritual development. It also...
Oxford University Press eBooks
February 19, 2019
Wendy Kline
Chapter 3, “Psychedelic Birth: The Emergence of the Hippie Midwife,” explores the home birth experience from the perspective of the counterculture. In this context, childbirth became a catalyst to spiritual transcendence. At the same time, new developments in psychiatric research and the proliferation of psychoactive substances created a vibrant, albeit surprising, intellectual exchange between...
Oxford University Press eBooks
January 4, 2019
Douglas S. Duckworth
16 citations
This book offers an engaging philosophical overview of Tibetan Buddhist thought. It shows the way that Buddhist theory informs Buddhist practice across various Tibetan traditions in ways that integrate competing and complimentary perspectives on the nature of mind and reality. The book draws upon a contrast between phenomenology and ontology to highlight distinct starting points of inquiries...
Oxford University Press eBooks
November 22, 2018
Eitan P. Fishbane
11 citations
This book studies the Zohar as a work of literature. While the Zohar has long been recognized as a signal achievement of mystical theology, myth, and exegesis, this monograph presents a poetics of zoharic narrative, a morphology of mystical storytelling. Topics examined include mysticism and literature; fiction and pseudepigraphy; diaspora and exile; dramatic monologue and the representation of...
Oxford University Press eBooks
September 13, 2018
1,340 citations
Abstract The Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition provides a systematic overview of the state of the art in the field of 4E cognition: it includes chapters on hotly debated topics, for example, on the nature of cognition and the relation between cognition, perception and action; it discusses recent trends such as Bayesian inference and predictive coding; it presents new insights and findings...
Oxford University Press eBooks
May 24, 2018
Christopher Partridge
34 citations
For a number of complex reasons, humans are fascinated by drugs and altered states. Even if only momentarily, psychoactive substances lift people out of the ennui and pain of their everyday lives and, in some cases, introduce them to new visions of reality. It is no surprise, therefore, that the use of recreational drugs is rising. While, sadly, this also means that levels of addiction are...
Oxford University Press eBooks
May 24, 2018
Martin Fortier
8 citations
Hallucinations possess two main components: (i) a sensory content; (ii) a sense that the sensory content is real. Influential models of schizophrenic hallucination claim that both the sensory content and the sense of reality can be explained in terms of metacognitive dysfunction. This chapter assesses whether such a claim holds for schizophrenic and drug-induced hallucinations; it further...
Oxford University Press eBooks
May 24, 2018
Christopher Partridge
2 citations
The final chapter discusses a number of post-1960s developments, focusing particularly on the ideas of two influential thinkers who were shaped in different ways by the psychedelic revolution, Carlos Castaneda and Terence McKenna. Central to the thought of both of them was the significance of shamanism. The chapter also discusses the emergence of interest in constructing contemporary indigenous...
Oxford University Press eBooks
April 5, 2018
Michael Lifshitz, Eli Oda Sheiner, Laurence J. Kirmayer
22 citations
This chapter explores psychedelics as catalysts of spontaneous thought. Classic serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca can induce potent alterations in cognition and perception. The chapter reviews research on these substances through the lens of cultural neurophenomenology, which aims to trace how neurobiology and sociocultural factors interact to shape experience....
Oxford University Press eBooks
October 26, 2017
Susan Blackmore
112 citations
Consciousness is ‘the last great mystery for science’. How can a physical brain create our experience of the world? What creates our identity? Do we really have free will? Could consciousness itself be an illusion? Exciting new developments in brain science are continuing these debates, and the field has now expanded to include biologists, neuroscientists, psychologists, and philosophers....
Oxford University Press eBooks
October 20, 2016
Roger R. Jackson
1 citation
Roger Jackson summarizes the state of scholarship on the writings and thought of great and historically important Mahāyāna philosopher Nāgārjuna. The chapter moves through historical issues on the philosopher and the literary and legendary sources bearing on his historical location; it turns to an exhaustive overview of writings attributed to him, with special focus on the analysis of the...
Oxford University Press eBooks
August 1, 2016
15 citations
Abstract Chapter 15 of Addiction Medicine covers hallucinogens and dissociative drugs. Hallucinogens are a large and diverse group of substances, some of which occur in fungi and plants and some which are chemically synthesized. Psychostimulants described in this chapter include psilocybin, mescaline, ayahuasca, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and NBOMes and tryptamines. Dissociative drugs...
Oxford University Press eBooks
April 21, 2016
Kelly Bulkeley
Abstract This chapter examines the cross-cultural religious phenomenon of ritual healing in and through dreaming. The widespread practice of healing-oriented rituals involving dreams has always involved a religious framework in which the process unfolds. This chapter looks at ritual healing in the context of scientific research on big dreams. The discussion includes a detailed case study...