The ambiguity of transference

This paper has attempted to find relationships between different psychoanalytic schools, as well as between seemingly disparate views in theoretical and technical debates, along the essentially ambiguous concept of transference. Seeing transference as a condensation as well as a displacement, as recommended by Jordan (1992), has greatly facilitated this task by revealing an ongoing dialectical counterpoint of psychoanalytic dialogue. A sitting duck, the analyst conjures up a demand for recognition by the patient that is made more transparent in its contradiction by the analyst's quality of a decoy. As the scarecrow comes to life, the patient finds out that his demand cannot be fulfilled because ultimately it does not fit as it does not truly come from him. As it becomes clear that it does not come from the analyst either, the analyst as proxy gives all the clues as to the true source of desire. The many issues raised by Freud's monumental discovery are far from solved, and they surely will continue to inspire a continuing scientific dialogue. The issue of recognition in the Hegelian sense is suggested as a potentially fruitful common denominator of the transferential quest, to be further explored.