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The following exchange, initiated by David Brand's pointedly critical discussion of Kenneth Frank's paper “Toward Conceptualizing the Personal Relationship in Therapeutic Action: Beyond the ‘Real’ Relationship,” (Perspectives, Fall/Winter 2005), features more strident disagreement than is usually found in the pages of this journal. In the hands of less accomplished analysts or thinkers such dueling words might likely yield unseemly noise. Yet, in the instance of Brand and Frank, strong argument separates real from apparent difference and turns to enlightenment, as the reader is treated to an intricate counterpoint of theoretical elucidation. In the process of elaborating their perspectives, the two seasoned analytic writers clearly delineate a number of the philosophical concepts underlying current relational theory and practice. Objectivism, relativism, perspectivism, and various forms of constructivism are repeatedly turned like stones under running water, until each view is made epistemologically smooth to the faculties of discernment and clearly distinguishable one from the other. Problematic aspects of each theoretical vantage point are also expertly laid out and analyzed. The end result is a highly clinically relevant and enjoyably educational read.