A CASE IS NOT A FACT

Why do we publish clinical data? Between the scientistic illusion that assumes that cases are objective data and the disillusioned observati on that psychoanalytic literature is mainly used to boost identity fee lings, what role is played by such publications? New psychoanalytical knowledge results from clinical practice and not from scientific exper iments or observations. A clinical vignette, even more than a full mon ograph, is clear ly not designed to prove a theory from objective fact s but to illustrate ate a particular clinical view. The quality of a c ase report relies on at least three criteria: data economy, adequacy t o the proposed thesis; and convincingness or persuasion. A case is not a fact, because understanding it presupposes 'semantic holism': under standing any mental state requires taking into consideration a 'world of knowledge'. Empathy results from an unlimited work of inferences. I n presenting a case, the psychoanalyst is always in a sense a 'thought -reader'. He describes what he believes he discovers.