119 - Mark Solms: Neuropsychoanalysis and the Source of Consciousness

Mark Solms is professor of Neuropsychology at the Neuroscience Institute at the University of Cape Town. He is also a psychoanalyst, and while Mark’s early research focused on the brain mechanisms of sleep and dreaming, he is currently working on the neural correlates of consciousness and affect. In this episode, Robinson and Mark talk about his new book The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness. More particularly, they discuss the hard problem of consciousness and how recent advances in neuroscience have pointed toward a solution.

The Hidden Spring: https://a.co/d/jcvbmLw

Mark’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mark_Solms

OUTLINE

00:00 In This Episode…

00:47 Introduction

03:09 What is Neuropsychoanalysis?

11:54 Was Freud a Neuroscientist?

26:17 What is the Hard Problem of Consciousness?

36:24 What is the Relationship between Dreaming and Consciousness?

54:44 Patients without a Cortex

01:03:01 Does Consciousness Have a Purpose?

01:14:53 Daniel Dennett and Karl Friston

01:24:49 Solving the Hard Problem of Consciousness

Robinson’s Website: http://robinsonerhardt.com

Robinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University. Join him in conversations with philosophers, scientists, weightlifters, artists, and everyone in-between.