Arché is a Greek term that means “beginning”, “origin” or “primordial element”
For Heraclitus, Arché idea could be represented with the image of a circle, where the beginning and the end meet. For us the idea of Arché has a double meaning. On one hand, it refers to the psychedelic experience, where circularity is expressed in the possibility of reconnecting with life and existence as a whole. On the other hand, we find it a good metaphor to express the interdisciplinarity of our group, where different approaches and methods draw a circle to better understand reality.
We are a group of researchers from the University of the Republic, CLAEH University and the Clemente Stable Biological Research Institute interested in the development of knowledge on different aspects related to psychedelic substances.
The term psychedelic (from the Greek, psyche, mind; delein, manifest, unveil) is used to refer to those substances capable of promoting altered states of consciousness. The study of these substances necessarily involves a great diversity of approaches since their subjective effects depend not only on their pharmacological properties, but also on different psychological, cultural and contextual factors, usually referred to in the scientific literature as Set & Setting. Our group involves different disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, chemistry, pharmacology and neuroscience.
Our central interest is to deepen in obtaining interdisciplinary scientific knowledge to contribute to the development of public policies, regulation models and guidelines based on evidence regarding the composition, potential medicinal effects and risks of the use of these substances in our country.
