ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the major epistemological differences that bear on whether one thinks that infant observation is relevant to psychoanalysis. It addresses author’s comments largely to Andre Green, whose position author have some familiarity with from several meetings and his various publications and public interviews on this subject. The chapter describes some of the specific differences in approach between infant observation and psychoanalysis. This will include a discussion of how an observer of infants might view some issues that are central to psychoanalysis, but quite differently. Intention in so doing is to push forward the dialogue about relevance and possible complementarity. Plausibility can place considerable doubts or constraints on what is an acceptable psychoanalytic notion, be it theoretical or clinical. These doubts are not the result of a direct challenge. The first step in such hypothesis-generating observational work is pattern recognition. The next step is a confirmation/disconfirmation step, or, in its weaker form, a plausibility check.
