The dream in the dialogue between psychoanalysis and neuroscience

Abstract

Freud opened the doors of science to the dream in 1900 [1]. His discovery grew from a model of the mind based on the concept of psychic energy behind man's desire. This has its roots in infancy and must be satisfied. Freud's thinking thus upturned the whole of the old order of the origin of dreams long held by the Greek oneiromanciers and the Medieval and Renaissance dream diviners. In place of the idea that dreams are sent to man by the gods or through supernatural forces, Freud offered the alternative that they come from man himself-from his unconscious mind. Not from on high, then, but from down below, on earth! By suggesting that dreams originated naturally inside man, Freud gave them an anthropological dimension, which opened the way to scientific investigation. © 2006 Springer-Verlag Italia.