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 Universit盲t 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 (, 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. 听
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, (University of California Press, 2012) and (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 .
Degrees Held
Ph.D. in Medical Anthropology at University of California, Berkeley (2007)
Dr. med. in History of Medicine, Humboldt Universit盲t / Freie Universit盲t Berlin (2004)
M.D., Medicine, Charit茅 Universit盲tsmedizin Berlin 听(2004)
M.A., Philosophy, Freie Universit盲t Berlin (2004)
Professional Affiliation
Reviews editor of听叠颈辞厂辞肠颈别迟颈别蝉听(2010-2019)
Recent Publications
Books
, Princeton: Princeton University Press (2020)
, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. []
, Suhrkamp: Frankfurt/M., 2005. [闭鈥
Edited Volumes and Special Issues
Erika Dyck, Tehseen Noorani, Nicolas Langlitz, Alex Dymock, Anne Katrin Schlag and Oliver Davis (eds.), , Lausanne: Frontiers Media SA, 2024.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Nicolas Langlitz and Clemente de Althaus, 鈥淭he moral economy of diversity: How the epistemic value of diversity transforms late modern knowledge cultures.鈥 History of the Human Sciences online first (9 May 2023).
Nicolas Langlitz and Alex Gearin, 鈥淧sychedelic Therapy as a Form of Life.鈥 Neuroethics 17(2024), 1-19.
"The Making of a Mushroom People: Toward a Moral Anthropology of Psychedelics Beyond Hype and Anti-hype.鈥 Anthropology Today 39:3 (2023), 10-12.听
"What Good Are Psychedelic Humanities?" Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023). 听 鈥淐ooperative Primates and Competitive Primatologists: Prosociality and Polemics in a Nonhuman Social Science.鈥 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).
鈥溾 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, 听Erika Dyck, Milan Scheidegger, 听Dimitris Repantis, "." Frontiers in Psychiatry 12 (2021), pp. 1-6.
"" and "" HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 10:3 (2020), pp. 989-1004 and 1030-1035.
"" Chacruna, 3 August 2020.
"." Cultural Anthropology, Hot Spots, Fieldsights, 10 July 2020.
鈥 Or why we are still fighting over Max Weber鈥檚 Science as a Vocation.鈥 Journal of Classical Sociology (2019; online first), 1-15.
鈥.鈥澨鼳nthropology Today听34:6 (2018), 16-20.
": On the Birth of Actor-Network Theory from Baboon Field Observations.鈥澨Theory, Culture & Society听(2017)
鈥: Using Drugs and Dreams to Explore the Neurobiological Basis of Mental Phenomena.鈥 Progress in Brain Research (2017). 1-20.
鈥溙齏hat Humans and Chimpanzees Do in a Japanese Laboratory and the African Field.鈥 British Journal for the History of Science Themes 2 (2017), 1-25.
"听in der Reagan-Thatcher-脛ra.鈥 Nach Feierabend: Z眉rcher Jahrbuch f眉r Wissensgeschichte 12, Wissen, ca. 1980, (2016), pp. 235-244.
"Fieldwork in Perennial and Neurophilosophy.鈥听Common Knowledge听22(3), 373-384 (Sept. 2016)
":听Neurophilosophy and the Politics of Phenomenal Internalism.鈥澨齁ournal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 21:4 (2015), 739-757.听
鈥渋n a Sleep Laboratory.鈥 History of the Human Sciences 28:4 (2015), 3-24.
础耻迟丑辞谤听听鈥淲e might have a brighter future if we stopped conceiving of ourselves as an epistemic counterculture.鈥 History of the Human Sciences website, 1 March 2016.
"." In: Suparna Choudhury and Jan Slaby (eds.),听Critical Neuroscience: A Handbook of the Social and Cultural Contexts of Neuroscience. Wiley: London (2012), 253-262.
鈥.鈥 In: Francisco Ortega and Fernando Vidal (eds.),听Neurocultures. Glimpses into an Expanding Universe.听Peter Lang: Frankfurt/M. (2011), 141-165.
鈥. Observations of Contemporary Hallucinogen Research.鈥澨History of the Human Sciences听23:1 (2010), 37-57.
鈥溙渂er den Umgang mit Gef眉hlen in der psychopharmakologischen Halluzinogenforschung.鈥 Debate with Malek Bajbouj, Ludwig J盲ger, and Boris Quednow. In: Daniela Hammer-Tugendhat and Christina Lutter (eds.),听Emotionen. Zeitschrift f眉r Kulturwissenschaften,听no. 2 (2010), 61-88.
"''. Entstehung, Scheitern und Renaissance einer psychedelischen Alternative zur kosmetischen Psychopharmakologie." In: Christopher Coenen, Stefan Gammel, Reinhard Heil, and Andreas Woyke (eds.),听Die Debatte 眉ber "Human Enhancement". Historische, philosophische und ethische Aspekte der technologischen Verbesserung des Menschen. transcript: Bielefeld (2010), 263-286.
""听Social Studies of Science听39:3 (2009), 395-420.
鈥. Zur Erforschung des Halluzinogenrauschs seit der 鈥楧ekade des Gehirns鈥.鈥 In: Horst Bredekamp, Gabriele Werner, and Matthias Bruhn (eds.),听Ikonographie des Gehirns. Bildwelten des Wissens.听Kunsthistorisches Jahrbuch f眉r Bildkritik 6:1 (2008), Akademie Verlag: Berlin, 30-42.
鈥溙齆otes on the Psychopharmacology of Truthfulness.鈥 In: Jens Hauser (ed.),听sk-interfaces. Exploding Borders in Art, Technology and Society. FACT/Liverpool University Press: Liverpool, 2007, 118-124.
鈥. Zum Problem des Schmerzes ohne L盲sion von der Geburt der Klinik zur Dekade des Gehirns.鈥 In: Eugen Blume, Annemarie H眉rlimann, Thomas Schnalke, and Daniel Tyradellis (eds.),听Schmerz. Kunst+Wissenschaft,听Dumont Literatur und Kunst Verlag: K枚ln, 2007, 209-216.
". Toward a Historical Epistemology of Model Psychosis."听叠颈辞厂辞肠颈别迟颈别蝉听1:2 (2006), 158-180.
鈥.鈥澨Anthropology Today听21:6 (2005), 20.
Mazda Adli, Christopher Baethge, Andreas Heinz, Nicolas Langlitz, and Michael Bauer, 鈥淎 systematic review,鈥澨European Archive of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience,听255:6 (2005), 387-400.
"听Eine Rekonstruktion von Lacans Gefangenensophisma."听Dialektik 鈥 Zeitschrift f眉r Kulturphilosophie, no. 1 (2002), 79-100.
Langlitz, Nicolas, Kerstin Schotte, and Tom Bschor, ""听Der Nervenarzt听72:7 (2001), 562-564.鈥
Interviews
鈥: An interview with Shirley Strum about the shared history of primate and science studies.鈥 BioSocieties 12:1 (2017), 158-167.
Book Reviews (recent)
Stephanie Schiavenato, Esther Rottenburg, and Nicolas Langlitz 鈥.鈥 Book review of Michael Tomasello鈥檚 A Natural History of Human Thinking, Anthropology Now 8:3 (2016), 135-142.
Cameron Brinitzer and Nicolas Langlitz, 鈥.鈥 Book review of Frans de Waal鈥檚 The Bonobo and the Atheist, Anthropology Now 7:3 (2015), 118-124. 听
Working Papers (recent)
George Marcus and Nicolas Langlitz, 鈥.鈥 The Comedy of Things website (2014).听
Newspaper Articles
".鈥 Aeon Magazine, 14 December 2015."
"" (Interview by Helena Wittlich). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 May 2013, N2.听
"听(with Anne Kirstine Hermann). Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 22 July 2012, 54.听
"" (with Anne Kirstine Hermann). Weekendavisen, 12 July 2012, Ideer 1-3.
"." Interview by J枚rg Auf dem H枚vel. Telepolis, 12 January 2012.听
"." NZZ am Sonntag, 14 March 2010, 75.
鈥.鈥 Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 3 January 2010, 52.
Performances and Appearances
Media Appearances
Psychedelics
Berliner Zeitung, 鈥溾 22 May 2016.
鈥溾 Progressive Radio Network, 10 March 2016.
鈥.鈥 Open Foundation, 28 February 2016.
鈥溾 SWR2 Wissen, 19 February 2015. (Radio)
鈥.鈥 Anthropology Now, 13 November 2014. (Podcast)
鈥.鈥 Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society. (Blog)
"" (Interview by Helena Wittlich). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 22 May 2013, N2. (Newspaper)
麻豆传媒色情片 Research Radio, "" and "," 听26 February 2013. (Radio)
Telepolis, "Subjektiver Rausch und objektive N眉chternheit," 12 January 2012.
Deutschlandfunk, "," 28 July 2011. (Radio)
WNYC, Leonard Lopate Show, "Please Explain: Psychedelic Drugs," 15 October 2010. (Radio)
DRadio Wissen, 鈥,鈥 24 February 2010. (Radio)
听
The Brain Doping Debate
SWR2 Impuls, "Von wegen Hirn-Doping! Vom Sinn und Unsinn der Debatte 眉ber Neuro-Enhancer," 13 January 2010.
Kulturzeit (3sat), "Doping f眉r das Gehirn. Ist es legitim, geistige Leistung chemisch zu tunen?," 16 December 2009.
Aspekte (ZDF), 鈥淪egen oder Teufelszeug? Doping f眉r das Gehirn,鈥 27 November 2009.听
SWR2 Wissen, " Hirndoping in der Diskussion," 18 September 2008.
Panorama (ARD), 鈥,鈥 17 April 2008
听
Neurocultures 听 听
Wissenschaft DRS2, 鈥淒er Neuro-Boom 鈥 das Gehirn liegt im Trend,鈥 28 February 2009.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 鈥,鈥 25 February 2009.鈥
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,听drug cultures
Portfolio