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This slim volume traverses the boundaries of psychology, philosophy, empirical research, and psychoanalysis to propose a conceptual foundation for psychoanalytic theory and practice which can hold up to postmodern critiques of conceptual systems and the positivist demand for empirical facts. On the one hand a response to Adolf Grünbaum's penetrating dissection of psychoanalytic epistemology, Strenger's monograph wrestles with his own uncertain
position as an intellectual seeker of truth and practitioner of therapy. He accepts certain painful conclusions which many analysts might still resist—for example, that psychoanalysis represents a hermeneutic discipline, not a science—while struggling valiantly to uphold the validity of clinical experience. Since Strenger is unusually knowledgeable and able to convey his ideas in a straightforward, comprehensible manner, his efforts have resulted in a valuable contribution to our literature, one which will have a useful place in our analytic curriculum.
Strenger, like many other critics (e.g., Meissner1), begins by sidestepping the thrust of Grünbaum's attack, in refusing to accept the portrayal of psychoanalysis which was proffered in The Foundations of Psychoanalysis.2 One can have very little quarrel with his description of contemporary psychoanalytic practice as much broader than the narrow search for specific etiologies as a "necessary condition" for cure. He takes his place with those modernist psychoanalysts who seek to disencumber clinical practice from an outdated theoretical superstructure with which it is often confused. In so doing, he sets forth his own, essentially hermeneutic model. The purpose of psychoanalytic insight, he argues, is not to gain knowledge about causes, but has to do with restructuring personal experience. Although this is not new, Strenger's presentation of psychoanalysis as a hermeneutic discipline is cogent and will probably persuade many skeptical analysts not to be ashamed of this