Thinking Psychoanalytically: From the Sciences to the Arts

Undergraduate / Graduate

Since Freud's seminal investigation into the nature of the mind, psychoanalytic thinking has offered a unique approach to unconscious, relational, and meaningful dimensions of human experience. Despite assaults on the field from numerous quarters, psychoanalytic thinking remains central to the work of practitioners across an array of disciplines. After an introduction to key psychoanalytic concepts including the unconscious, repression, and transference, we will investigate some of the ways in which these ideas are mobilized within clinical practice, neuroscience, anthropology, education, philosophy, literary studies, and the visual arts through a series of lectures presented by specialists from these fields. Along the way, we will gain an appreciation for some of the ways in which psychoanalytic perspectives continue to inspire a variety of current scientific and humanistic projects.