In this episode, Xavier Bonilla has a dialogue with Mark Solms about consciousness, emotions, and how we understand the human psyche. They begin by discussing how Mark become involved in neuropsychology and psychoanalysis and how he combines these two worlds. They also discuss how he became involved with the late great Jaak Panksepp and their work on brainstem arousal and affect. They discuss Panksepp's seven affective states and make a distinction between drives, instincts, affect, emotions, and feelings. They talked about Mark's own work in understanding emotions in humans and locating some of the origins of consciousness in the reticular activating system and the periaqueductal gray (PAG). They discuss how consciousness could be in other animals and give some discussion on free will. They talk about the importance of bodily homeostasis and how it's a key feature for consciousness. They also provide some analysis and critique of the work done on emotions by Lisa Feldman-Barrett and also talk about some of the overemphasis on cognitive science. 

Mark Solms is a neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst. He holds the chair of neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and is also the research chair for the International Psychoanalytic Association. He has written eight books with his most recent, The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness, which can be found here. You can find a list of his scholarly publications here. Twitter: @mark_solms

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