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We have been presented with a unique series of six essays on conflict and compromise. This uniqueness resides in the fact that the six authors were selected with the explicit purpose of representing a single point of view within psychoanalysis, although even this single point of view is not monolithic as is clear from some of the variations on the main theme.
I was certain that I could find in these papers the elements common to all psychoanalytic perspectives; those that form natural bridges from one perspective to another and reveal both their similarities and their substantive differences.
A discussant from another theoretical perspective is often a nuisance. He cannot fully approve and affirm the presenters' views if he sets out to consider them entirely from his own differing perspective. He is then rightfully experienced as an external observer, who is unreasonably critical from across that great divide. Moreover, he cannot be heard. He cannot engender a true dialogue. Those on the other side of the divide will not listen to him.
Perhaps the crux of the problem of communication regarding some of the fundamental differences between the various