Chicago | July 7, 2016 - July 10, 2016
OTHER MINDS
Keynote talks, research sessions and symposia on the theme as well as on
a variety of other neuropsychoanalytic topics
The mind includes representations of self and other, and self as other. Freud called the self-as-other the superego; later theorists spoke of an inner world, while contemporary theorists speak of an intersubjective field. Making distinctions between what arises from within and without is a difficult task and a lifelong developmental achievement. What light can modern neuroscience cast on these topics?
Speakers include Jean Decety, Dietmar Dietrich, Ruth Feldman, Jaak Panksepp, and Douglas Watt. Mark Solms will give opening and the anticipated closing statements.
Philosophers question whether it is possible to know other minds. The discovery of mirror neurons suggests otherwise. The phenomenon of empathy and theory-of-mind have also received intensive neuroscientific attention. What are the implications of this research for psychoanalysis – and for the concept of countertransference, in particular?
Psychoanalysts have always been interested in group psychology. Today this field has widened considerably, and encompasses the whole of social neuroscience. Of special interest is the topic of ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups: ‘us’ versus ‘them’. What new light can we shed on such topics?
The topic of ‘Other Minds’ also raises the vexed question of non-human minds … and even of non-biological minds. What distinguishes animal from human minds, and natural from artificial ones? All of these issues, and the links between them, will be the focus of the 17th International Neuropsychoanalysis Congress in Chicago.
More info here.
