On Drugs: Psychedelics, Philosophy, and the Nature of Reality

by Justin Smith-Ruiu Narrated by Daniel Henning

Overview

“Like the best psychedelic experiences, On Drugs estranges the familiar, familiarizes the strange, and returns us to reality (whatever that is) with a broadened sense of the possible. Justin Smith-Ruiu is simply one of the most interesting thinkers alive, and he has found an ideal subject for his peculiar brand of brilliance.”-Christopher Beha, author of The Index of Self-Destructive Acts

In the late, post-lockdown days of the pandemic, grappling with personal loss and existential uncertainty, Justin Smith-Ruiu found himself standing in a California cannabis dispensary, pondering a question his tribe of fellow philosophers have often dismissed as too simple: How did I get here? That moment marked a transition for him-it was the start of a journey Smith-Ruiu would take to experience his own mind and the world around him in a new, clarifying way.

On Drugs blends autobiography, intellectual history, and philosophical inquiry to explore the transformative impact of psychedelics on human consciousness and thought. Drawing on his personal experiences as “an articulate guinea pig,” Smith-Ruiu argues that psychedelics upend our assumptions about the nature of reality-and thus force a reckoning with the very foundations of Western philosophy.

Provocative, profound, and deeply personal, On Drugs points toward a radically new way of thinking about the world and our capacity to understand it.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"A winding, ambitious rumination on what the use of psychedelics might reveal ‘about the relationship between mind and the world.’ . . . profound . . . Open-minded readers will find much to chew on."— Publishers Weekly

"A layered philosophical investigation of drugs and their complexities . . . Smith-Ruiu is interested in how we perceive reality and whether drugs distort that perception or, conversely, reveal to us dimensions that we do not otherwise grok . . . An innovative application of philosophy to matters ineffable, intoxicating, and altogether interesting."— Kirkus Reviews

"Is the ‘psychedelic renaissance’ a flowering of human potential, a throughway to mystical experience, offering deep insights into the nature of mind and reality, or a quick fix for mental disorders? In this wide-ranging reflection, philosopher and historian of science Justin Smith-Ruiu explores these questions with his characteristic verve and erudition, enlivened with a searching account of his own journey. Anyone who wonders what to make of the shifting landscape of psychedelics will be richly rewarded by this book."— Laurence J. Kirmayer, Distinguished James McGill Professor and director of the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University

"It makes perfect sense to me that Justin Smith-Ruiu has written a book about being on drugs, because his intellectually psychedelic writing always makes me feel like I'm on drugs myself. So it is here. Disparate domains of mind are brought together. Strange, compelling entities appear. The world feels altered yet uncannily familiar. Something groovy happens to your brain. It all adds up to a higher lucidity that leaves you feeling permanently wiser."— William Deresiewicz, author of The End of Solitude

"An insightful work of philosophy supported by a surprisingly powerful memoiristic arc, Justin Smith-Ruiu’s new book works better than any psychedelic could to reopen the doors of perception and cast humanity’s long-standing hunger for mind-altering experiences in a new and thrilling light."— Kristen Roupenian, author of Cat Person and Other Stories

Kirkus Reviews

2025-05-15
A layered philosophical investigation of drugs and their complexities.

Canadian philosopher Smith-Ruiu opens with an odd feint, announcing that he has written this book in sobriety, for “it is simply intrinsic to the project of philosophy that one must be eminently clear-headed at least at the moment one is seeking to make a contribution to it in writing.” The “at least” is an important qualifier, for as his narrative proceeds, he reveals a keen interest in mind-altering substances, particularly psychedelics. (Indeed, just before that declaration, he recounts an evening of psilocybin tea on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.) The philosophical project is very real, though: Smith-Ruiu is interested in how we perceive reality and whether drugs distort that perception or, conversely, reveal to us dimensions that we do not otherwise grok. As the narrative proceeds, it appears that Smith-Ruiu favors the latter interpretation, venturing that psilocybin in particular unveils “the plain truth that was there all along but that we cannot ordinarily see: that we carry [the] world inside of us.” Although Smith-Ruiu’s discussion is, beg pardon, heady, he writes with clarity about matters such as the nature of dreams, the difficulty of accounting for “the richness of our inner experience,” the phenomenological recognition of other minds, and the like. In some regards, Smith-Ruiu acknowledges, his book strays outside the realm of academic philosophy writ large, which concerns itself “with meanings and arguments, not what lies beyond these,” to which he counters that whereas philosophers have long tended to wrestle with problems without mind alteration, “psychedelics, like religion, like poetry, are among other things an abandonment of the will to go it alone,” an aid to thought rather than an impediment to it.

An innovative application of philosophy to matters ineffable, intoxicating, and altogether interesting.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940195568955
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	09/23/2025
Edition description:	Unabridged

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