ABSTRACT
In the chapter following this one, I discuss dissociation and enactment from within a hermeneutic frame of reference. In this chapter, I contextualize that chapter, and the ones that follow it on dissociation and enactment, by revisiting the way that the hermeneutic philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1965/2004), who has influenced me for many years, thinks about the matter of true conversation, or collaborative, authentic dialogue.1 I have been drawn to think of dissociation and enactment as the uncontrollable, unconsciously motivated interruption of that kind of dialogue (e.g., D. B. Stern, 1990, 1991, 1997; see also Chapter 3). And so understanding
the nature of true conversation in its uninterrupted form should set us on the path for the chapters to come.
