Why and How Consciousness Arises

Mark Solms, Ph.D. is best known for his discovery of the forebrain mechanisms of dreaming, and his pioneering use of psychoanalytic methods and theories in contemporary neuroscience. Born in Lüderitz in 1961, he was educated at Pretoria Boys’ School and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He moved to London in 1988, where he worked at the Royal London Hospital (Honorary Lecturer in Neurosurgery) while he trained at the Institute of Psychoanalysis. He returned to South Africa in 2002, where he now holds a Professorship in Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town. He is president of the South African Psychoanalytical Association, member of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and Honorary Member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society. Honours include the George Sarton Medal for contributions to the history and philosophy of science (Rijksuniversiteit Gent, 1996), the International Psychiatrist award for contributions to American psychiatry (American Psychiatric Association, 2001) and the Sigourney Prize for contributions to psychoanalysis (2012). He is chair of the Research Committee of the International Psychoanalytical Association. He has published more than 300 papers in both neuroscientific and psychoanalytic journals, and five books, including The Neuropsychology of Dreams (1997), Clinical Studies in Neuropsychoanalysis (2000) and The Brain and the Inner World (2002). His last book was a bestseller and was translated into nine languages. He is the editor of the Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 vols) and the forthcoming Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (4 vols).

Maggie Zellner, Ph.D., L.P. is a psychoanalyst, behavioral neuroscientist, and neuropsychoanalytic educator. She is the Executive Director of the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation in New York, and co-editor of the journal Neuropsychoanalysis. She has taught introductory neuroscience to the psychoanalytically-minded since 2003, and is in private practice in New York City.