Is psychoanalytic “neuro-phoria” founded? About the epistemological Achilles heel of neuro-psychoanalysis

Abstract

Since the end of the 20th century, interdisciplinary cooperation between psychoanalysis and neurology has developed into an autonomous scientific program. The international discussion in the fields of cognitive sciences has already payed attention to the new movement of “neuro-psychoanalysis" and neuro-psychoanalysis has found a lot of agreement by the international scientific community of psychoanalysts yet. However, contemporary philosophers of science doubt if the promised project of a “biologically turned psychoanalysis" indeed will be able to fulfil all the enormous expectations of psychoanalysts and neurologists. The critics of “Viennese Constructivists" even talk about the “epistemological Achilles heel of neuro-psychoanalysis" and they warn psychoanalysts of the hard-scientific illusion of “deciphering nature". Finally psychoanalysis is automatically going to come again into contact with the well-known philosophical problems of “objectivism" by realizing the paradigmatic turn into neuro-psychoanalysis.

Keywords Neuro-psychoanalysis; Psychoanalysis; Neurological turn; Philosophy of science; Epistemology