Projects

Please visit our research information system KRIS for a comprehensive overview. Below you will find an excerpt of projects.

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Psychological and psychodynamic aspects of religious experience in the frame of reference of the Abrahamic religions and "Maimonides Lectures". Part 2

Psychological and psychodynamic aspects of religious experience in the frame of reference of the Abrahamic religions and "Maimonides Lectures". Part 1

The psychological and psychodynamic studies of religious experience represent a science of human behaviour and experience, so that religious experience as a specifically human experience can be addressed by the methodologies of psychodynamic psychotherapy research. The research-generated Maimonides Lectures present a mutual fertilisation between Abrahamic religions and sciences through symposia and keynote lectures. In the spirit of the physician, philosopher and scholar Moshe ben Maimon, the Maimonides Lectures encounter the Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. This makes a substantial contribution to the culture of KL inclusion, which is committed to valuing diversity. The Maimonides Lectures in Lower Austria are jointly organised by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) with the Abrahamic religious communities in Austria and the Karl Landsteiner Private University for Health Sciences (KL) under the patronage of the Office of the Lower Austrian Provincial Government, thus establishing cooperative, sustainable research at a level of excellence.

Embodied experience - Current Perspectives of Scientific-Philosophical and Empirical Research on the Basic Concepts and Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Object Relations Theory

In a first philosophical part, the dissertation project provides an update and an interdisciplinary investigation of the basic concepts and assumptions of psychoanalytic object relations theory by including research from the Philosophy of Mind, the cognitive sciences, but also phenomenology, in the discussion of psychoanalytic theory. In the second empirical part, a study design is developed for a validation study of a psychometric measurement instrument based on psychoanalytic object relations theory.

Freud, Lipps and the Problem of Empathy

The research project, from which both the dissertation "Freud, Lipps and the Problem of Empathy" and a series of publications have emerged, examines a philosophical source of Sigmund Freud's that has not yet been fully elaborated. The concept of empathy, much discussed as a result of new findings in the neuroscientific and cognitive fields (including the discovery of mirror neurons), has led to a revisiting of the theories of Theodor Lipps, who is considered among the most important pioneers of empathy research. This historical study opens up a new reading of Lipps' texts. Five appendices complete the dissertation with new translations of Lipps' texts. Furthermore, the work by DDr. Ivan Rotella systematises the concept of empathy in Lipps and its influence on Sigmund Freud against the background of current research.

The irreducibility of subjective experience

The dissertation project clarifies ontological issues around the mind-body, providing a solid conceptual or scientific-theoretical framework that integrates a wide range of different research findings. The focus is on the scientific understanding of the phenomenon of mental processes, which is difficult to explain in terms of the causal structure of the physical world. It then examines how mental processes realise the relation to other subjects, to intramental processes and to non-mental circumstances and processes. The focus is on the foundations of perceptual processes and the question of what makes an experience an experience in the first place - with particular attention to its qualitative and phenomenal aspects. Research into subjective experience, especially with regard to the therapeutic relationship, is thus placed on a secure foundation, opening up the possibility of new insights for basic research in medicine, health and human sciences.