A metatheoretic account of the nature of psychoanalytic theory and therapy is put forward employing Habermas' notion of critique. It is claimed that a range of psychoanalytic approaches including Freudian and relational varieties have as a prominent implicit goal the seeking of intersubjective agreement and understanding. Critique functions in the service of this goal by preparing the way for what Habermas has termed “free discourse,” which is the pursuit of communal understanding free of external and internal constraint. It is maintained that free discourse as defined above implies a positive valuation of communal understanding which cannot be further founded. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the acknowledgment of this value is consistent with a critical stance in psychoanalytic theory and practice.