Keywords
dreaming, NREM, REM, sleep, neuro-psychoanalysis, epistemology of psychoanalysis.
Abstract
Dreams, like all mental phenomena, can be studied through psychological as well as neurophysiological lenses. Despite having to be consistent with one another without clashing,
these two types of analysis, and thereby of theory, remain deeply different, because they get to varieties of objectivity that stand on different grounds. This article will be concerned
with relating one particular kind of psychological analysis and theory of dreams, that of Freudian psychoanalysis, with empirical findings and models in neurobiology. It will show
that, far from being in contradiction, the two are aligned on many important aspects. This correspondence is strong evidence for the scientific and epistemic validity of the Freudian
method of inquiry.