Introduction: Autism Research Between Psychology and Neuroscience: From Leo Kanner to New Frontiers

1. Different from whom? 2. My encounter with science (and family matters) 3. Science and knowledge in the complex world 4. A question of language 5. The scientific method and the need for grand theories 6. What this book is about 7. An initial map 8. Bibliographical notes This chapter clarifies the terms of the overall discourse on autism, attempting to offer an unusual point of view and clarifying why it is necessary. It is a place and an opportunity to take stock of the specialisation of scientific knowledge in the context of an increasingly complex world in which greater multidisciplinarity should be reintroduced. By introducing some unusual references for a text on autism, it is proposed to broaden the view, for example, to branches of science, such as quantum physics, that have already addressed the problem of complexity that is only now emerging in the medical sciences through the new approaches offered by the neo-sciences. An example to follow. This also includes an initial note on the issue of language. These two perspectives also form the introduction to Chapter 15 and find their own synthesis in the method set out in the conclusions.