By examining the rise and fall of psychoanalysis, Freud's Dream provides an extended case study of the appeal and potential dangers of the interdisciplinary approach to theory construction now guiding cognitive science as well as a novel interpretation of Freud's own programme. Kitcher argues that Freud's grand scheme for psychoanalysis was nothing less than a blueprint for a complete interdisciplinary science of mind, that many of its strengths and weaknesses derived from that fact, and that Freud's errors are instructive for current work in cognitive science.
For the last 100 years historians have denigrated the psychology of the Critique of Pure Reason . In opposition, Patricia Kitcher argues that we can only understand the deduction of the categories in terms of Kant's attempt to fathom the psychological prerequisites of thought, and that this investigation illuminates thinking itself. Kant tried to understand the "task environment" of knowledge and Given the data we acquire and the scientific generalizations we make, what basic cognitive capacities are necessary to perform these feats? What do these capacities imply about the inevitable structure of our knowledge? Kitcher specifically considers Kant's claims about the unity of the thinking self; the spatial forms of human perceptions; the relations among mental states necessary for them to have content; the relations between perceptions and judgment; the malleability essential to empirical concepts; the structure of empirical concepts required for inductive inference; andthe limits of philosophical insight into psychological processes.
Kant's exploration of cognition and self-consciousness is central to the Critique of Pure Reason, particularly in the transcendental deduction. While this section is often seen as obscure, Patricia Kitcher engages with Kant's detailed conditions for knowledge, arguing that self-consciousness is essential for rational thought. She counters the tendency of many philosophers to sidestep Kant's transcendental psychology, asserting that awareness of the connections among mental states is crucial for understanding rationality. The book begins by placing Kant's theories within the context of contemporary debates on "apperception," personal identity, and the interplay between object cognition and self-consciousness. Kitcher elaborates on Kant's assertion that human knowledge necessitates a unified self-consciousness and examines the implications for modern philosophy of mind. If rational cognition indeed requires conscious thought, this introduces a second "hard problem" regarding the nature of conscious reasoning. Kitcher critiques current theories of self-ascription of belief, highlighting their inadequacies in cases where individuals are aware of their reasons for belief. She proposes a new Kantian approach to address this issue, demonstrating Kant's enduring significance and the relevance of his insights to ongoing philosophical challenges.
