The Enculturation Problem – Dr. Thomas Metzinger (The MIND Philosophy Series #10)

CAUTION: Event will be repeated on Thursday 8th, 2022 at 7 pm (Central European Time, CET = UTC +1). We had a technical failure at the original event date (which was Tuesday before). Join us again, please!

In the 10th and final webinar of the MIND Philosophy Series, Dr. Thomas Metzinger discusses how the psychedelic experience can be culturally integrated and gives concrete and practical suggestions for doing so.

The “enculturation problem” is the problem of how to integrate the psychedelic experience into culture and societal practice, in a way that is rational, evidence-based, and ethically convincing. To a first approximation, the enculturation problem can be framed as a problem for applied ethics and policy-making: How can the psychedelic experience be culturally integrated in a way that minimizes risks and maximizes benefits for society as a whole?
In this talk, I will first briefly explain the concept of a “consciousness culture” and argue that it would be a mistake to simply legalize the classical hallucinogens, but that the real challenge lies in fostering a very careful, ethically motivated, and scientifically grounded process of “enculturation”: A process of creating a new cultural context in which all members of society can profit from the intrinsic value of these psychoactive substances, while at the same time minimizing risks and cultivating a rational, evidence-based strategy for harm reduction. I will then formulate a “minimal enculturation model” to dissolve the current gridlock by making a concrete proposal so simple that most counterarguments automatically expose themselves as being intellectually dishonest—because they are not supported by empirical evidence and are unrealistic, irrational, and merely ideological. In this spirit, I will offer a first blueprint for an enculturation protocol, which comes as a list of six constraints I believe should be satisfied.