FALK, P.B.:
Psychoanalysis and Neuroscience: Cooperation or Integration?
Falk, P.B., Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
(Presented at the Conference «FREUD'S SCREEN MEMORIES in the Light of the Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Neurosciences» in Prague, May 4-6, 2006)
Annotation
The recently established field of neuro-psychoanalysis (Solms, Panksepp et al.) surely speaks for the possibility of cooperation but what remains to be seen is the scope and character of this joint venture. The cooperation may be mutually advantageous in many respects, for example in the use of brain imaging technique (PET, fMRI) for detecting correspondences between mental states (disorders and their therapeutic treatment) and neural network patterns. Nevertheless, it seem obvious that such cooperation is bound by certain limits, especially concerning the scenario of theoretical and conceptual integration of the two parties. Even though the (cognitive) neuroscience have broadened its scope lately towards phenomenological conceptions of the 'embodied mind' (Damasio, LeDoux et al.) its orientation is still determined by the 'natural science'-model focusing on 'bottom-up' causal explanation, that is, from neural (brain)functions to the dynamics of the mind. At the same time the contemporary philosophical discussions aim at solving the old mind-body-problem in somewhat modified forms without convincing results: the 'explanatory gap' still remains and the 'mental causation' lacks explanation despite the elaboration of the notion of 'supervenience' which aims at conceptualizing the mind-body/brain-relationship without reducing the former to the latter. My aim in the presentation is to show why the 'explanatory gap' is unavoidable and how this fact sets certain limits to the neuro-psychoanalytic cooperation while blocking the way to theoretical integration.
Other texts from the Conference Freud 2006.
Other online articles on psychoanalysis.
