Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research Since the Decade of the BrainNeuropsychedelia examines the revival of psychedelic science since the "Decade of the Brain." After the breakdown of this previously prospering area of psychopharmacology, and in the wake of clashes between counterculture and establishment in the late 1960s, a new generation of hallucinogen researchers used the hype around the neurosciences in the 1990s to bring psychedelics back into the mainstream of science and society. This book is based on anthropological fieldwork and philosophical reflections on life and work in two laboratories that have played key roles in this development: a human lab in Switzerland and an animal lab in California. It sheds light on the central transnational axis of the resurgence connecting American psychedelic culture with the home country of LSD. In the borderland of science and religion, Neuropsychedelia explores the tensions between the use of hallucinogens to model psychoses and to evoke spiritual experiences in laboratory settings. Its protagonists, including the anthropologist himself, struggle to find a place for the mystical under conditions of late-modern materialism. |
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American animals anthropology antipsychotic ayahuasca behavior biological brain research Brenneisen Cahn century chapter clinical cognitive colleagues consciousness contemporary counterculture cultural Dietschy Doblin drug experiences drug mysticism drug policy effects emerged epistemic ethics ethnographic experimental Felix Hasler fieldwork Gouzoulis hallucinogen research hallucinogenic drugs hallucinogenic experiences Heffter Research Institute historical Hofmann human Huxley Huxley’s ketamine knowledge Kometer laboratory Langlitz Leary LSD Symposium lucinogen Mark Geyer MDMA mental mescaline mind model of psychosis model psychosis research modern mystical experiences nature neural neurochemical neuropsychedelia neuropsychopharmacology neuroscience neuroscientific neurotheology objectivity observation ontology paradigm patients perennial philosophy pharmaceutical pharmacological political practice problem psilocybin psychedelic drugs psychedelic experience psychedelic research psychedelic science psychiatrist psycholytic psychopharmacology psychosis psychotic Quednow question rats religion religious revival Samotar schizophrenia scientific scientists self-experimentation serotonin set and setting SFOPH Shulgin social spiritual Studerus substances Swiss Switzerland test subjects tion Vollenweider Vollenweider's Zurich