Freudian Unconscious and Cognitive Neuroscience

Vesa Talvitie is a Doctor of Psychology, licensed psychotherapist, organisational consultant (FINOD) and currently works as an occupational psychologist for the City of Helsinki. In addition to numerous articles on psychoanalysis in Finnish and English, he is the author of 'Freudian Unconscious and Cognitive Neuroscience: From Unconscious Fantasies to Neural Algorithms' and 'The Foundations of Psychoanalytic Theories: Project for a Scientific Enough Psychoanalysis'.

• Introduction -- The unconscious and the mysteries of human life -- Historical context of the tension between the cognitive and the psychoanalytic unconscious -- The mind and the unconscious of the post-Freudian era -- On the competencies of the neural unconscious -- Repression and becoming conscious of the repressed reframed: the four-level model -- Psychotherapy, neuroscience, and the levels of explanation -- Epilogue: history of the future of psychoanalysis

'Vesa Talvitie's sophisticated, yet accessible, analysis of the relationship between the Freudian unconscious and cognitive neuroscience should be required reading for both doctrinaire Freudians and those psychologists who are all too eager to consign the Freudian project to the dustbin of history. His philosophical astuteness, impressive grasp of the relevant literatures, and willingness to engage creatively with both psychoanalysts' and cognitivists' thinking make this indispensable reading for anyone seriously interested in understanding the architecture of the human mind and the place of psychoanalysis on the contemporary intellectual landscape.'- David Livingstone Smith, PhD, author of Approaching Psychoanalysis: An Introductory Course, Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and The Unconscious Mind and The Most Dangerous Animal: Human Nature and the Origins of War