I argue that because psychoanalysis and psychotherapy are emergent processes and the expression of values, a hermeneutic perspective is necessary to study them. I present some basic aspects of one significant perspective of this kind, that of Hans-Georg Gadamer. We have no choice but to recognize that objectivism is the dominant mode of thought in our culture and the means by which the public is liable to judge our claims for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. Nevertheless, it is crucial for us not to privilege quantitative empirical research in the study, and especially in the formulation, of these activities.