ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to introduce a new scientific method, which consists in nothing more than a combination of two existing methods. It explores the scope of the opportunities that are created by this new method, for we firmly believe that it paves the way for an integration—on a sound empirical basis—of psychoanalysis and neuroscience, the two major approaches to the study of mental life which characterized the twentieth century. It is no accident that Freud shifted from neuroscience to psychoanalysis at a point when he had redirected his scientific attention from comparative neuroanatomy to the problems of human neuropsychology, and when he had exchanged laboratory methods for those of the clinic. We know from Freud's writings of that time that he was thoroughly versed in the methods and discoveries of this exciting new branch of science.
