This response welcomes Bob Hinshelwood's plea for research in the psychoanalytic setting, and his discussion of processes for clarifying concepts and for the comparative examination of different positions. I suggest that the aims of Hinshelwood's project could be more effectively realized within a social science approach and discuss some implications for ways of conceptualizing science, theory and subjectivity. I suggest that the focus for research within the psychoanalytic setting should include how clinical practice is evolving under changing social contexts.