Interpreting Freudian Concept of Mind and Unconscious at the Time of Fall of Positivism

Abstract

This comment aims to bring Psychoanalysis as the precursor of a new vision about mental processes and the mind as a whole and allies this discovery to the change in the scientific thinking at the time of the beginning of Psychoanalysis, exemplified by the evolutions of quantum and relativistic physics, in counterpoint to the positivism in vogue, i.e., Freud showed a non-positivist thinking elaborating the Psychoanalysis. For this reason, it contextualizes the theories in relation to the brain and to the brain functions at the time of Freud, that sought in each brain region the correspondent for specific functions, exemplified mainly by Gall's phrenology. Although regional correspondents to the function of language have been found, such as Wernicke's and Broca's areas, it has not been possible to date to find specific locations for complex emotions and the behavior, even with Luria's attempts. The possible analysis of a mind that goes beyond the morpho-physiological limits of the brain was Freud's great contribution to the evolution of a scientific thinking regarding mental disorders. Finally, in this text, we intend to place Psychoanalysis as a non-positivist precursor of mind studies.