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K. Doblhammer, M. Jakubec, S. Schaat, D. Dietrich, R. Widholm, G. Fodor:
"Popper Revisited - Epistemological Considerations on Psychoanalysis Regarding a Technical Model of the Psyche";
2015.

In recent years, psychoanalytic theory has become interesting to research areas for which
it was not primarily conceptualized, e.g. neuropsychoanalysis or artificial intelligence
research. These areas of application of psychoanalytic theory were met with the same
criticism, originally raised against psychoanalysis, namely its relation to philosophy of
science and particularly its claim to be part of natural science.
In this paper these reservations will be reviewed as epistemological misunderstandings
and preconceptions. It will be exemplarily demonstrated how a typical epistemological
criticism of psychoanalysis, namely that by Popper, comprehends and classifies
psychoanalysis. The paper intends to point out the incongruity between this criticism and
the intention of psychoanalysis and its theory.
The second part of the paper then introduces the project SiMA with its interdisciplinary
methodology and approaches as a project accepting the challenge of using psychoanalysis
for computer engineering in a natural scientific way. The aim of the project is to utilize
psychoanalytic theory technically for the purpose of modelling, simulating and planning
applications in the field of artificial intelligence research.
For the first time this allows to put the psychoanalytic model to a test which follows the
principles of computer engineering, i.e. a strictly natural scientific approach. Thereby
making it accessible to a new mode of epistemological critique.

Psychoanalysis, Critical Rationalism, Popper, Computer Simulation, Falsification, Artificial Intelligence

https://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_278614.pdf