ABSTRACT

A century after the foundation of psychoanalysis this construct remains very controversial, belonging as well to the ambiguous figure of Freud as to psychoanalysis (method to investigate mental processes, general psychological theory, and therapeutic intervention). This review points to the main causes of the present-day crisis undergoing PA. The impact of recent findings in psychophysiology and neuroscience for a deeper understanding of unconsciousness, sexuality, dreams and memory is underlined. Consequently a fruitful dialogue between PA and cognitive neuroscience appears to be possible and desirable. From Popper's point of view PA remains only a hypothesis; it can be considered also as a kuhnian paradigm. By its hermeneutic resources with large implications in culture, psychoanalysis has fundamentally marked by the thought of our century.

KEYWORDS: Freud, psychoanalysis in crisis, neuroscience, paradigm, hermeneutic value.