Dr. Chris Letheby is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy in the School of Humanities at the University of Western Australia. He earned his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Adelaide in 2017 for his thesis 'The Philosophy of Psychedelic Transformation.' Previously, he held a Postdoctoral Researcher position at the University of Adelaide from April 2019 to April 2022. Letheby's areas of specialization are philosophy of mind, philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of neuroscience, and philosophy and cognitive science of psychedelic experience. He investigates the causal mechanisms and epistemic status of transformative spiritual practices, the possibility of a naturalistic spirituality, and the nature of self-awareness. His research centers on the use of classic psychedelic drugs in neuroscience and psychiatry, employing a neurophilosophical approach that grounds philosophical analyses in scientific findings and fosters interdisciplinary collaborations with neuroscientists and psychologists.

Letheby authored the book Philosophy of Psychedelics (Oxford University Press, 2021), co-edited Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry (Oxford University Press, 2024), and published key articles such as 'How Do Psychedelics Reduce Fear of Death?' (Neuroethics, 2024) and 'Psychedelics: Recent Philosophical Discussions' (2025). His scholarship has attracted 1,447 citations on Google Scholar, yielding an h-index of 14 and i10-index of 14. He has received the Faculty of Arts Prize for Outstanding Research by an Early Career Researcher (2022), School of Humanities Early Career Award for Best Publication in 2021 (2022), School of Humanities Early-Career Research Award (2022), and Senior Researcher Visiting Fellowship at the Antwerp Center for Philosophical Psychology (2022). At UWA, Letheby teaches logic, epistemology, philosophy of science, philosophy of artificial intelligence, and philosophy of psychology and psychiatry.

Professional Email: chris.letheby@uwa.edu.au