Intoxicated Ways of Knowing

“Perkins-McVey’s Intoxicated Ways of Knowing demonstrates that psychotropic substances have not only been a constant presence in modern life, but have played a critical, yet largely overlooked, role in the mainstream development of German philosophy, experimental physiology, psychology, and medicine. Through fascinating case studies of Kant, Schelling, Kraepelin, Freud, Nietzsche, Weber, and others, Perkins-McVey develops a compelling thesis that intoxicants provided the indispensable condition for the making of the modern biological subject.” – Robert Brain, author of “The Pulse of Modernism: Physiological Aesthetics in Fin-de-Siècle Europe”“Intoxicated Ways of Knowing is a brilliant book. By reframing the history of nineteenth-century German science through the lens of intoxication, Perkins-McVey challenges us to rethink the history of the human sciences more broadly—and, perhaps, to rethink what it means to be a biological subject altogether. This is groundbreaking work that deserves to be read and debated widely.” – Joseph M. Gabriel, author of “Medical Monopoly: Intellectual Property Rights and the Origins of the Modern Pharmaceutical Industry”

Matthew Perkins-McVey is assistant professor of the history and philosophy of science and medicine at Technion Israel Institute of Technology.