ABSTRACT
The distinction between truth and lie constantly confronts the psycho-analyst who has to apply in a rough and ready practical way ideas that have been the centre of discussion over the centuries. The rough and ready application may be too crude to do the work required of it. The psycho-analyst seeks ideas sufficiently accurate and robust to survive the emotional storms they should illuminate. To the problems of understanding the author says that the psycho-analyst can bring something that is unknown to the philosopher of science because the psycho-analyst has experience of the dynamics of misunderstanding; the psychoanalyst is concerned practically with a problem that the philosopher approaches theoretically. Investigations of understanding and misunderstanding impinge on problems associated with truth and untruth. The parasitic relationship between liar and environment, corresponding to the parasitic relationship between the thinker and the lie, denudes the environment of significance.
