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In 1922 Freud wrote the article on psychoanalysis for a German encyclopedia (12). In this article he described psychoanalysis as follows: "Psycho-Analysis is the name (1) of a procedure for the investigation of mental processes which are almost inaccessible in any other way, (2) of a method (based upon that investigation) for the treatment of neurotic disorders and (3) of a collection of psychological information obtained along those lines, which is gradually being accumulated into a new scientific discipline."
In the same article, Freud discussed "Psycho-Analysis as an Interpretative Art." He concluded the encyclopedia article with a paragraph on "Psycho-Analysis an Empirical Science." Here Freud emphasized that "Psycho-Analysis is not, like philosophies, a system starting out from a few sharply defined basic concepts, seeking to grasp the whole universe with the help of these and, once it is completed, having no room for fresh discoveries or better understanding. On the contrary, it keeps close to the facts in its field of study, seeks to solve the immediate problems of observation, gropes its way forward by the help of experience, is always incomplete and always ready to correct or modify its theories. There is no incongruity (any more than in the case of physics or chemistry) if its most general concepts lack clarity and if its postulates are provisional; it leaves their more precise definition to the results of future work."
These statements offer a starting point for any discussion of psychoanalysis as science. They imply that (a) Freud considered psychoanalysis a