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The author looks into philosophical traditions for the reasons why the activity of listening is comparatively less important than linguistic expression, and at the same time identifies those lesser trends of our heritage in which listening has been advocated and developed. Corradi Fiumara also delves into the nature of our 'logocentric' Western culture—grounded on the power of cogent enunciations—which, from the Greeks onwards, supports the enterprises of our knowledge.
Compared to the revolutionary therapeutic method of letting the suffering person speak by no other means than accurate listening, Freud's exploration of the unconscious might not even be regarded as the main innovative scope of psychoanalysis. The sequence of theories, models and hypotheses might even be considered as the search for means to improve our listening and thus the inner resources of the patient from which, in fact, the 'talking cure' originates.
The book deals with the basic terms of a problem which certainly deserves detailed assessment as it is a major one in our daily practice of psychoanalysis and it constantly risks being eschewed or denied. The cornerstone of all psychoanalytic endeavours, the process of listening has not received sufficient attention. This clear and coherent book focuses on the nature, relevance and difficulties of this problem in our culture. It is telling that in the vast literature pertaining to (the philosophy of) language not much work has been done on the question of listening,