Profile
I'm an anthropologist and historian of science who takes philosophical questions out of the armchair to the field. My fields are medicine, the life sciences, and the behavioral sciences where I look for interlocutors who share my curiosity about Homo sapiens as an animal that has changed beyond recognition and, for better and worse, shows no signs of settling down. I am especially interested in research approaches that cut across the disciplinary divide between social research, humanities scholarship, and the natural sciences.
It is in this borderland between very different knowledge cultures where I have been socialized. During my training as a physician at Freie Universität Berlin, I contributed to research in biological psychiatry, followed the local anti-psychiatric movement, and wrote a book about an obscure practice in French psychoanalysis (Die Zeit der Psychoanalyse: Lacan und das Problem der Sitzungsdauer, Suhrkamp, 2005). By the time, I graduated from medical school, I was sufficiently alienated from Lacanian analysts, anti-psychiatric activists, and biological psychiatrists alike to continue pursuing such endeavors from a scholarly distance. And so I became a historian and ethnographer.
From cultural anthropology and the history of science and medicine, I learned to attend to competing and changing conceptual schemes, knowledge practices, material cultures, and institutional organizations that inform diverse and often incongruent conceptions of who we are. I work from the assumption that the possibility of multiple perspectives on human life does not just reflect back on the people who study it but often tells us something important about human life itself. As my focus shifted from psychoanalytic to neuroscientific and evolutionary frameworks, my research followed the historical transition from understanding and acting upon the mind in psychological terms to the current predominance of biological approaches. As anthropologist of science, I have written two more books, Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research since the Decade of the Brain (University of California Press, 2012) and Chimpanzee Culture Wars: Rethinking Human Nature alongside Japanese, European, and American Cultural Primatologists (Princeton University Press, 2020). Regionally, my inquiries trail the cosmopolitan geographies of the scientific fields I study and have taken me from Germany to Switzerland, the United States, Australia, Japan, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. I am also the founder and head of the Psychedelic Humanities Lab.
Degrees Held
Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology at University of California, Berkeley (2007)
Dr. med. in History of Medicine, Humboldt Universität / Freie Universität Berlin (2004)
M.D., Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin (2004)
M.A., Philosophy, Freie Universität Berlin (2004)
Professional Affiliation
Reviews editor of BioSocieties (2010-2019)
Recent Publications
Books
Chimpanzee Culture Wars: Rethinking Human Nature alongside Japanese, European, and American Cultural Primatologists, Princeton: Princeton University Press (2020)
Neuropsychedelia: The Revival of Hallucinogen Research since the Decade of the Brain, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. [Introduction]
Die Zeit der Psychoanalyse. Lacan und das Problem der Sitzungsdauer, Suhrkamp: Frankfurt/M., 2005. [Introduction]
Edited Volumes and Special Issues
Erika Dyck, Tehseen Noorani, Nicolas Langlitz, Alex Dymock, Anne Katrin Schlag and Oliver Davis (eds.), Psychedelic Humanities, Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA, 2024.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Nicolas Langlitz and Clemente de Althaus, “The moral economy of diversity: How the epistemic value of diversity transforms late modern knowledge cultures.” History of the Human Sciences online first (9 May 2023).
Nicolas Langlitz and Alex Gearin, “Psychedelic Therapy as a Form of Life.” Neuroethics 17(2024), 1-19.
"The Making of a Mushroom People: Toward a Moral Anthropology of Psychedelics Beyond Hype and Anti-hype.” Anthropology Today 39:3 (2023), 10-12.
"What Good Are Psychedelic Humanities?" Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023). “Cooperative Primates and Competitive Primatologists: Prosociality and Polemics in a Nonhuman Social Science.” In: George Steinmetz and Didier Fassin (eds.), The Social Sciences Through the Looking Glass: Studies in the Production of Knowledge, Duke University Press: Durham (2023), pp. 351-367.
"Psychedelic Innovations and the Crisis of Psychopharmacology." BioSocieties online first (15 December 2022).
“If Only There Was a Department of Fieldwork in Philosophy.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 11:2 (2021), 748-753. Nicolas Langlitz and Alex Gearin, "Psychedelic Therapy as Form of Life." Neuroethics 17:14 (2024), 1-19. [Full text]
Nicolas Langlitz, Erika Dyck, Milan Scheidegger, Dimitris Repantis, "Moral Psychopharmacology Needs Moral Inquiry: The Case of Psychedelics." Frontiers in Psychiatry 12 (2021), pp. 1-6.
"Devil's Advocate: Sketch of an Amoral Anthropology" and "Warning against and experimenting with morality." HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 10:3 (2020), pp. 989-1004 and 1030-1035.
"Should Psychedelic Humanities Promote Psychedelic Humanism?" Chacruna, 3 August 2020.
"Rightist Psychedelia." Cultural Anthropology, Hot Spots, Fieldsights, 10 July 2020.
“Psychedelic science as cosmic play, psychedelic humanities as perennial polemics? Or why we are still fighting over Max Weber’s Science as a Vocation.” Journal of Classical Sociology (2019; online first), 1-15.
“Salvage and Self-loathing: Cultural Primatology and the Spiritual Malaise of the Anthropocene.” Anthropology Today 34:6 (2018), 16-20.
"Primatology of Science: On the Birth of Actor-Network Theory from Baboon Field Observations.” Theory, Culture & Society (2017)
“Opaque Models: Using Drugs and Dreams to Explore the Neurobiological Basis of Mental Phenomena.” Progress in Brain Research (2017). 1-20.
“Synthetic Primatology: What Humans and Chimpanzees Do in a Japanese Laboratory and the African Field.” British Journal for the History of Science Themes 2 (2017), 1-25.
"Homo academicus und Papio anubis in der Reagan-Thatcher-Ära.” Nach Feierabend: Zürcher Jahrbuch für Wissensgeschichte 12, Wissen, ca. 1980, (2016), pp. 235-244.
"Is There a Place for Psychedelics in Philosophy? Fieldwork in Perennial and Neurophilosophy.” Common Knowledge 22(3), 373-384 (Sept. 2016)
"Vatted Dreams: Neurophilosophy and the Politics of Phenomenal Internalism.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 21:4 (2015), 739-757.
“On a Not so Chance Encounter Between Neurophilosophy and Science Studies in a Sleep Laboratory.” History of the Human Sciences 28:4 (2015), 3-24.
Author interview “We might have a brighter future if we stopped conceiving of ourselves as an epistemic counterculture.” History of the Human Sciences website, 1 March 2016.
"Delirious Brain Chemistry and Controlled Culture. Exploring the Contextual Mediation of Drug Effects." In: Suparna Choudhury and Jan Slaby (eds.), Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience. Wiley: London (2012), 253-262.
“Political Neurotheology. Emergence and Revival of a Psychedelic Alternative to Cosmetic Psychopharmacology.“ In: Francisco Ortega and Fernando Vidal (eds.), Neurocultures. Glimpses into an Expanding Universe. Peter Lang: Frankfurt/M. (2011), 141-165.
“The Persistence of the Subjective in Neuropsychopharmacology. Observations of Contemporary Hallucinogen Research.” History of the Human Sciences 23:1 (2010), 37-57.
“Kultivierte Neurochemie und unkontrollierte Kultur. Über den Umgang mit Gefühlen in der psychopharmakologischen Halluzinogenforschung.“ Debate with Malek Bajbouj, Ludwig Jäger, and Boris Quednow. In: Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat and Christina Lutter (eds.), Emotionen. Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften, no. 2 (2010), 61-88.
"'Better Living Through Chemistry'. Entstehung, Scheitern und Renaissance einer psychedelischen Alternative zur kosmetischen Psychopharmakologie." In: Christopher Coenen, Stefan Gammel, Reinhard Heil, and Andreas Woyke (eds.), Die Debatte über "Human Enhancement". Historische, philosophische und ethische Aspekte der technologischen Verbesserung des Menschen. transcript: Bielefeld (2010), 263-286.
"Pharmacovigilance and Post-black Market Surveillance." Social Studies of Science 39:3 (2009), 395-420.
“Neuroimaging und Visionen. Zur Erforschung des Halluzinogenrauschs seit der ‘Dekade des Gehirns’.” In: Horst Bredekamp, Gabriele Werner, and Matthias Bruhn (eds.), Ikonographie des Gehirns. Bildwelten des Wissens. Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch für Bildkritik 6:1 (2008), Akademie Verlag: Berlin, 30-42.
“The Office of Experiments’ Truth Serum Threat. Notes on the Psychopharmacology of Truthfulness.” In: Jens Hauser (ed.), sk-interfaces. Exploding Borders in Art, Technology and Society. FACT/Liverpool University Press: Liverpool, 2007, 118-124.
“Permutationen reinen Schmerzes. Zum Problem des Schmerzes ohne Läsion von der Geburt der Klinik zur Dekade des Gehirns.” In: Eugen Blume, Annemarie Hürlimann, Thomas Schnalke, and Daniel Tyradellis (eds.), Schmerz. Kunst+Wissenschaft, Dumont Literatur und Kunst Verlag: Köln, 2007, 209-216.
"Ceci n'est pas une psychose. Toward a Historical Epistemology of Model Psychosis." BioSocieties 1:2 (2006), 158-180.
“Biosecurity. A response to Helmreich.” Anthropology Today 21:6 (2005), 20.
Mazda Adli, Christopher Baethge, Andreas Heinz, Nicolas Langlitz, and Michael Bauer, “Is dose escalation of antidepressants a rational strategy after a medium-dose treatment has failed? A systematic review,” European Archive of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 255:6 (2005), 387-400.
"Logische Zeit und Logik des Kollektivs. Eine Rekonstruktion von Lacans Gefangenensophisma." Dialektik – Zeitschrift für Kulturphilosophie, no. 1 (2002), 79-100.
Langlitz, Nicolas, Kerstin Schotte, and Tom Bschor, "Loperamid-Abusus bei Angststörung." Der Nervenarzt 72:7 (2001), 562-564.
Interviews
“Baboons and the Origins of Actor-Network Theory: An interview with Shirley Strum about the shared history of primate and science studies.” BioSocieties 12:1 (2017), 158-167.
Book Reviews (recent)
Stephanie Schiavenato, Esther Rottenburg, and Nicolas Langlitz “Time and the Other Primates.” Book review of Michael Tomasello’s A Natural History of Human Thinking, Anthropology Now 8:3 (2016), 135-142.
Cameron Brinitzer and Nicolas Langlitz, “A Catholic Atheist and his Good Monkeys.” Book review of Frans de Waal’s The Bonobo and the Atheist, Anthropology Now 7:3 (2015), 118-124.
Working Papers (recent)
George Marcus and Nicolas Langlitz, “What the Comedy of Things Could Be.” The Comedy of Things website (2014).
Newspaper Articles
"Psychedelics can’t be tested using conventional clinical trials.” Aeon Magazine, 14 December 2015."
"Viele Faktoren bestimmen das Rauscherlebnis" (Interview by Helena Wittlich). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 May 2013, N2.
"Der Tod, in anderem Licht betrachtet" (with Anne Kirstine Hermann). Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 22 July 2012, 54.
"Generalprøve på døden" (with Anne Kirstine Hermann). Weekendavisen, 12 July 2012, Ideer 1-3.
"Subjektiver Rausch und objektive Nüchternheit." Interview by Jörg Auf dem Hövel. Telepolis, 12 January 2012.
"Trugbild des Gehirns." NZZ am Sonntag, 14 March 2010, 75.
“Das Gehirn ist kein Muskel.” Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 3 January 2010, 52.
Performances and Appearances
Media Appearances
Psychedelics
Berliner Zeitung, “Gibt es heute noch Selbstversuche in der Wissenschaft?” 22 May 2016.
“Expanding Mind – Neuropsychedelia.” Progressive Radio Network, 10 March 2016.
“Nicolas Langlitz: An Anthropologist in Psychedelia.” Open Foundation, 28 February 2016.
“Neurodämmerung: Wohin steuert die Hirnforschung?” SWR2 Wissen, 19 February 2015. (Radio)
“Nicolas Langlitz on Hallucinogen Revival and the Second Order Observer.” Anthropology Now, 13 November 2014. (Podcast)
“The Points Interview: Nicolas Langlitz.” Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society. (Blog)
"Viele Faktoren bestimmen das Rauscherlebnis" (Interview by Helena Wittlich). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 May 2013, N2. (Newspaper)
New School Research Radio, "A Return Trip: LSD Gets a Second Look" and "The Future of LSD," 26 February 2013. (Radio)
Telepolis, "Subjektiver Rausch und objektive Nüchternheit," 12 January 2012.
Deutschlandfunk, "Der Geist im Labor," 28 July 2011. (Radio)
WNYC, Leonard Lopate Show, "Please Explain: Psychedelic Drugs," 15 October 2010. (Radio)
DRadio Wissen, “Erowid – Halluzinationen aus dem Netz,“ 24 February 2010. (Radio)
The Brain Doping Debate
SWR2 Impuls, "Von wegen Hirn-Doping! Vom Sinn und Unsinn der Debatte über Neuro-Enhancer," 13 January 2010.
Kulturzeit (3sat), "Doping für das Gehirn. Ist es legitim, geistige Leistung chemisch zu tunen?," 16 December 2009.
Aspekte (ZDF), “Segen oder Teufelszeug? Doping für das Gehirn,“ 27 November 2009.
SWR2 Wissen, "Pillen für den Geist? Hirndoping in der Diskussion," 18 September 2008.
Panorama (ARD), “Schlauer, schneller, schöner – die gedopte Gesellschaft,“ 17 April 2008
Neurocultures
Wissenschaft DRS2, “Der Neuro-Boom – das Gehirn liegt im Trend,“ 28 February 2009.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Prothesen. ‘Neuro‘ als Marke,“ 25 February 2009.
Research Interests
Anthropology and history of science and medicine, neuroscience, psychiatry, psychopharmacology, evolutionary anthropology and primatology, comparative psychology, moral behavior, mind sciences, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, drug cultures
Portfolio
Personal website
BioSocieties