ABSTRACT
In psychoanalytic interpretation three phenomena that always exist in it are superimposed. The first is epistemological and relates to the type of knowledge the interpretation offers. An interpretation is a kind of miniature theory about what underlies a manifest phenomenon, meaning that to interpret implies producing a model or a hypothesis, in a way similar to that of the physicist when he wants to indicate what lies behind an effect. Physicist can call this the gnoseological aspect of interpretation, and it poses typical epistemological problems. The second facet is linked to the phenomenon of interpretation is semiotic; it has to do with meanings. The third aspect is instrumental and perhaps, in some sense, therapeutic. In the third aspect psychoanalytic interpretation is an action: the one who interprets is doing something in order to produce a modification or a particular effect in the patient.
