Alfred Lorenzer's study is already regarded as a classic in the contemporary discussion surrounding the enigma of psychoanalysis, as it addresses fundamental problems of psychoanalytic knowledge formation at a new level of reflection: (1.) it concerns the scientific nature of psychoanalysis, providing a precise justification of its hermeneutic status; (2.) it involves the interpretation of its object of knowledge, understanding neurosis as a form of language destruction, as a fragmentation of the language game; and (3.) it examines the uniqueness of the psychoanalytic method, with Lorenzer fundamentally and vividly developing the idea of scenic understanding that characterizes his overall approach.