ABSTRACT
Recently, a psychoanalyst friend reported a case he was treating in which the silence of the analyst played a significant role. It was as if the whole analysis rested on a base of silence. It recalled to him certain passages in the work of Martin Heidegger, whose book, What Is Called Thinking? (1968), he had read many years before. The book had spoken to him about thinking, and speaking and keeping silent. Since he knew that I had a certain interest in Heidegger, he proposed that we reflect upon the case together and present it as a collaborative effort to our professional peers: he would supply the clinical data, I would extrapolate upon it in Heideggerian fashion, and we would invite our colleagues to help us evaluate the success or failure of the experiment. I propose here to share with the reader my part of the bargain.
