A cat is not a battleship: thoughts on the meaning of "neuropsychoanalysis".
Brett H Clarke
The International Journal of Psychoanalysis April 2018 DOI: 10.1080/00207578.2017.1399064 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Hermeneutic Epistemology Neuropsychoanalysis Scientism Subjectivity |
| Key points | Argues that neuropsychoanalytic writers acknowledge but then disregard the irreducible nature of lived experience and the fundamental differences between the psychoanalytic mind and the brain. Contends that misrecognizing neuroscience's differences and employing it as a psychoanalytic partner to answer questions proper to psychoanalysis poses potential dangers for psychoanalysis. |
Abstract
As a conspicuously hybrid entity, neuropsychoanalysis enjoins one to look critically at its assumptions about knowledge and subjectivity as one tries to understand how its un-hyphenated halves relate to one another. The author looks at the differences between mind (which is grounded in subjective experience) and brain (which is an objectively described neurobiological entity), and suggests that neuropsychoanalytic writers are inclined to acknowledge but then disregard the unique, irreducible nature of lived experience, and the fundamental differences between the psychoanalytic mind (which requires an experiencing subject) and the brain (which is a neuronal aggregate). The author offers a philosophical basis for contending that there are potential dangers for psychoanalysis when neuroscience is misrecognized in its fundamental differences and injudiciously employed as a psychoanalytic partner in order to answer questions that properly belong to the language and conceptual architecture of psychoanalysis.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. | 2003 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. | 2013 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
- Integrating neuropsychoanalytic and neuropsychiatric perspectives into psychiatric clinical neuroscience curricula: a conceptual overview Frontiers in Medicine January 5, 2026
- Should the neuropsychoanalytic approach to the mind–body problem be re-framed in terms of transcendental idealism? Neuropsychoanalysis January 2, 2025