Meissner reviews some of the new theoretical options for psychoanalysis (linguistic discipline, form of historical knowledge, existential enterprise, etc.) prompted by challenges to the scientific status of the existing metapsychology. At present no one theoretical orientation is capable of encompassing all the observable data, but he suggests a return to a pre-theoretical assessment of the basic facts in an attempt at conceptual clarity. The psychoanalytic facts are (1) historical/genetic, (2) observational, (3) associative, and (4) introspective/empathic. Meissner argues that only the historical is verifiable; other psychoanalytic facts arise only within the analytic situation, and, as such, have little or no claim to objective verification. This must be taken into account when considering the theoretical status of psychoanalysis. However, he resists the argument that psychoanalysis belongs to the interpretive disciplines and, because of its use of observational data and the objectifying attitude, places it firmly in the domain of natural science.