Trust and Psychedelic Moral Enhancement

Moral enhancement proposals often fail to be both plausible and ethically defensible while remaining distinct from cognitive enhancement or moral education. Psychedelics used as adjuncts to moral development offer a promising middle ground. Drawing on psychotherapy, education, and AI-assisted enhancement, trusting relationships between facilitator and agent plausibly maximize the success of such moral enhancement. Informed consent and therapeutic relationship literature provide concrete suggestions for facilitating trust dimensions most likely to benefit adjunctive psychedelic moral enhancement, resulting in a detailed practical proposal.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Moral enhancement proposals struggle to be both plausible and ethically defensible while nevertheless interestingly distinct from both cognitive enhancement as well as (mere) moral education. Brian Earp ( Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 83:415–439, 12) suggests that a promising middle ground lies in focusing on the (suitably qualified) use of psychedelics as adjuncts to moral development. But what would such an adjunctive use of psychedelics look like in practice? In this paper, I draw on literature from three areas where techniques for moral development have been discussed: psychotherapy (e.g., Overholser 2010; Burns 1980) education (e.g., Uhl and Lütge, 2018), and AI-assisted enhancement (e.g., Lara and Deckers, Neuroethics 13(3):275–287, 17) in order to propose more concrete ways in which to use psychedelics as adjuncts to moral development. It is shown that in each of these areas, we can see that trusting relationships (e.g., Baier 1986; Hawley 2019) between the facilitator and the agent will very plausibly maximize the success of this type of moral enhancement. Finally, I appeal to literature on informed consent for use of psychedelics (e.g., Smith and Sisti, Journal of Medical Ethics , 22; Johnson et al., The Journal of Psychopharmacology 22(6):603–20, 23) and on the therapeutic relationship in psychotherapy (e.g., Dryden and Reeves 2013; Horvath et al. 2011) to outline concrete suggestions for facilitating dimensions of trust most likely to maximize the benefits of (adjunctive) psychedelic moral enhancement. The result is a newly detailed practical proposal for how we might best facilitate moral enhancement by using drugs as adjuncts to moral development