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The authors discuss progress made by psychoanalysis in conceptual clarification and systematic empirical inquiry. They examine such key concepts as transference, countertransference, working alliance, free association, meaning of dreams, and self psychology, and note the discrepancies not only in definition, but in how these phenomena are dealt with in practice. They note the recent move to call psychoanalysis a hermeneutic discipline, and they take issue with this attempt to eliminate the need to validate psychoanalytic concepts. They also consider whether psychoanalysis is able to define truths that are cross-cultural and transhistorical. They discuss change in the nature of psychopathology and the relationship between psychoanalytic concepts and social change. The authors believe it is essential for psychoanalytic concepts to be more systematically examined, clarified, and verified, and to get beyond the clinical vignette to establish a doctrine. They cite the work of several researchers who have begun to explore some issues in a meaningful and systematic manner, especially in the area of transference and the therapeutic relationship. They express their belief that psychoanalysis offers too valuable a contribution to the understanding of personality and human nature not to be researched seriously.