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Faculty of Graduate Studies

Denelle Lambert

  • M.A. (University of Victoria, 2017)

  • LL.B. (University of Ottawa, 2008)

  • B.A. (University of Calgary, 2004)

Notice of the Final Oral Examination for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Topic

Psychedelic Experience and the Aesthetics of Surrender

Department of Philosophy

Date & location

  • Thursday, June 11, 2026

  • 10:00 A.M.

  • Clearihue Building, Room B007

Examining Committee

Supervisory Committee

  • Dr. James Young, Department of Philosophy, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

  • Dr. Eric Hochstein, Department of Philosophy, UVic (Member)

  • Dr. Annalee Lepp, Department of Gender Studies, UVic (Outside Member) 

External Examiner

  • Dr. John Russon, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph 

Chair of Oral Examination

  • Dr. Sandra Gibbons, School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education, UVic

     

Abstract

This dissertation uses a phenomenological approach to investigate the aesthetic value of psychedelic experience. Using a critical Merleau-Pontian approach, I surface ‘surrender’ as the performative task of psychedelic experience. I argue that to appreciate a psychedelic experience aesthetically, one undergoes the process of surrender. In other words, I highlight a specific kind of surrender that a person is called on to enact during a psychedelic experience. To account for the uniqueness of the psychedelic context, I develop philosopher Patočka’s notion of surrender and argue that the process of psychedelic surrender is what makes psychedelic experiences aesthetically valuable. Ultimately, this project suggests that psychedelic experiences provide a unique opportunity to engage in an aesthetic experience, if aesthetic experience is understood broadly as experience that is valued for its own sake. By focusing on the aesthetic value of psychedelic experience, this dissertation departs from mainstream philosophical discourse on psychedelic experiences, which tends to emphasize the use of psychedelic drugs as therapeutic tools in medical contexts. The purpose of this dissertation is to show why psychedelic experiences are an especially powerful kind of aesthetic experience and are aesthetically valuable.

This dissertation proceeds as follows. In chapter 1, I provide a general overview of psychedelic drugs and academic discourse relating to psychedelic experiences. I focus on psychedelic drugs in psychology and also some of the main conversations around psychedelic experiences in current philosophical discourse. In chapter 2, I talk about psychedelic experiences and aesthetic experience and aesthetic value. Here, I highlight why psychedelic experiences problematize current approaches to understanding aesthetic experience and aesthetic value. In chapter 3, I discuss embodied phenomenology. The purpose of chapter 3 is to provide the framework for tackling the question of whether psychedelic experiences are aesthetically valuable. In chapter 4, I use the embodied approach that I developed in chapter 3 to argue that psychedelic experiences are aesthetically valuable when a person surrenders. Here, I develop Patočka’s notion of surrender to account for the uniqueness of the psychedelic context. I argue that ‘psychedelic surrender’ is the performative task of psychedelic experience. Ultimately, this project suggests that psychedelic experiences provide a unique opportunity to engage in an aesthetic experience, if aesthetic experience is understood broadly to be an experience that is valued for its own sake.

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