In the past, emotions and feelings belonged to the domain of the humanities. They were analyzed by philosophers and cherished by poets, while the sciences looked at them with suspicion or simply ignored them.

The 'affective revolution' of the 1990s changed all this. Neuroscientists have showed us that emotions and feelings can be investigated with empirical methods. Moreover, they proved that the role of emotions is essential both for our perception of the world and for our social institutions. The challenge that we face today may be described as follows. Can both disciplines - the humanities and neuroscience - enrich and educate each other and close the gap between the Geisteswissenschaften and Naturwissenschaften. Or maybe it is neuroscience that will dominate the reflection over the human emotional life? Or possibly it will stay as it is: two separate disciplines, two separate methods, with no real point of contact?

To answer these questions, there is no other way than discussion, involving specialists in different fields. Such an interdisciplinary endeavor - with methodological awareness and up-to-date knowledge - is necessary, if we are to better understand who we are. The goal of The Emotional Brain: From the Humanities to Neuroscience and Back Again conference is to contribute to such a discussion.

The honorary guest of the conference will be Jospeh LeDoux of New York University, whose work in the neursocience of emotions will be a point of reference of the discussion. During the conference Professor LeDoux will deliver the 2011 Copernicus Lecture

The conference will be held under the honorary patronage of the Mayor of Kraków, Professor Jacek Majchrowski.