A influência de John Hughlings Jackson na obra sobre a concepção das afasias de Sigmund Freud

Abstract

The release in 2013 of the work – until then unpublished in Brazil – On Aphasia: A Critical Study made available for the first time in Portuguese the complete text of a still little known study written by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). Among other subjects, this work brings certain ideas about the nervous system maintained by Freud, which later on proved to be crucial for the appearance of Psychoanalysis. As shall be seen here, in the study in question, Freud made an important transition by opposing to the then hegemonic “localizationist” doctrines. More precisely, moving from a localizationist explanation for aphasia, according to which language was supposed to be regulated by a single structure of the nervous system, Freud arrives at a more ample understanding of this disorder by introducing the concept of central aphasia. The news is that Freud now relies on the mediation of a globalized nervous system, with hierarchized and interconnected nervous centers, which contributed for a new understanding of the human mind. The model of nervous system adopted by Freud was clearly influenced by the English physician and neurologist John Hughlings Jackson (1835-1911). The latter, in turn, grounded on evolutionist ideas current at the time, proposed new theories about the workings of the nervous system, as well as original explanations for aphasias, epilepsies, and other neurological diseases